Mustafa II


Mustafa II was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1695 to 1703.

Early life

He was born at Edirne Palace on 6 February 1664. He was the son of Sultan Mehmed IV and Gülnuş Sultan, originally named Evmania/Eugenie, who was of Greek descent.
Much of Mustafa's childhood was passed in Edirne, the city of his birth. While he was in Mora Yenişehiri with his father in 1669, he began his religious education under Vani Mehmed Efendi, undergoing the bed-i besmele ceremony. The writing teacher was the famous calligrapher Hâfiz Osman. In 1675, he and his brother Ahmed were circumcised and his sisters Hatice Sultan and Fatma Emetullah Sultan were married. The celebration lasted 20 days.

Reign

Great Turkish War

During his reign the Great Turkish War, which had started in 1683, was still going on. After the failure of the second Siege of Vienna the Holy League had captured large parts of the Empire's territory in Europe. The Habsburg armies came as far as Niš, modern-day Serbia, before being pushed back across the Danube by 1690. Sultan Mustafa II was determined to recapture the lost territories in Hungary and therefore he personally commanded his armies. He set out from Niš with a large Ottoman Army to campaign against the Holy League.

Capture of Chios

First, the Ottoman Navy recaptured the island of Chios after defeating the Venetian navy twice, in the Battle of the Oinousses Islands and in the Battle of Chios, in February 1695. In June 1695, Mustafa II left Edirne for his first military campaign against the Habsburg Empire. By September 1695 the town of Lipova was captured. On 18 September 1695 the Venetian navy was again defeated in the naval victory of Zeytinburnu. A few days later the Habsburg army was defeated in the Battle of Lugos. Afterwards the Ottoman Army returned to the capital. Meanwhile, the Ottoman fortress in Azov was successfully defended against the besieging Russian forces.
As Mustafa attempted to realize his plans quickly, the island of Chios, which had previously fallen into the hands of the Venetians, was taken back at that time, the Crimean Tatars Shahbaz Giray entered the territory of Poland and proceeded to Lvov, and returned with many captives and booty. There were reports that the Venetians were influenced by the Ottoman forces on the Herzegovina front in Peloponnese. The recovery of Chios was considered especially auspicious and was celebrated with great festivities in Edirne. Meanwhile, the tips of the people were distributed to the locals.

Habsburg wars

In April 1696 Mustafa II left Edirne for his second military campaign against the Habsburg Empire. In August 1696 the Russians besieged Azov for the second time and captured the fortress. In August 1696 the Ottoman troops defeated the Habsburg army in the Battle of Ulaş and in the Battle of Cenei. After these victories the Ottoman troops captured Timișoara and Koca Cafer Pasha was appointed as the protector of Belgrade. Afterwards the army returned to the Ottoman capital.
In June 1697 Mustafa II left the capital on his third military campaign against the Habsburg Empire. However, the Sultan and Ottoman Army suffered a crushing defeat in the Battle of Zenta and Grand Vizier Elmas Mehmed Pasha died in the battle. Afterwards the Ottomans signed a treaty with the Holy League.
The most traumatic event of his reign was the loss of Hungary by the Treaty of Karlowitz in 1699.
Yet even if Ottoman power seemed to wane on one side of the empire, this did not mean that Ottoman efforts at expansion ceased. In 1700, for example, the Grand Vizier Amcazade Hüseyin boasted to a recalcitrant tribe residing in swamps near Baghdad that they ought to abide by the sultan's rule, since his grasp extended even to their marshy redoubts. The Grand Vizier added that, after all, Mustafa II was "the Lord of Water and Mud."
At the end of his reign, Mustafa II sought to restore power to the sultanate, which had been an increasingly symbolic position since the middle of the 17th century, when Mehmed IV had signed over his executive powers to the Grand Vizier. Mustafa II's strategy was to create an alternative base of power for himself by making the position of timars, the Ottoman cavalrymen, hereditary and thus loyal to him. The timars, however, were at this point increasingly an obsolete part of the Ottoman military machine.

Deposition

The stratagem failed, the disaffected troops bound to a Georgian campaign mutinied in the capital, and Mustafa was deposed on 22 August 1703.

Character

Defined as having a red beard, a short neck, he was of medium height and majestic. Mustafa II has a miniature made by Levni. After 1699, like his father, he was interested in hunting and entertainment, engaged in literature and wrote poems with the pseudonym. A curiosity of this sultan, who had lines in the style of Celi, Nesih and Sulus was archery. Silahdar Findiklili Mehmed Agha, who was assigned to write the history of his period. He described Mustafa's reign in his book Nusretname.

Family

With the rise of Mustafa II, the title of "Haseki Sultan" was definitively abolished, to be permanently replaced by the less prestigious and not exclusive "Kadın". Mustafa II also created a new class of concubines, the "Ikbal": inferior in rank to the Kadın in the hierarchy of the harem, they were initially called with the normal title of "Hatun", later modified in that, superior, of "Hanim".
Several of his concubines and consorts were married after his deposition by order of the new sultan, his brother Ahmed III.

Consorts

Mustafa II had at least ten consorts:
  • Alicenab Kadın. BaşKadin until her death.
  • Afife Kadın. BaşKadin after Alicenab's death. Also called Hafife, Hafiten, Hafize, Hafise or Hafsa, she was Mustafa's most loved consort, sentiment reciprocated, even if they were never legally married. She had a daughter in 1696 and later became the mother of five of Mustafa's eight sons.
  • Saliha Kadın. She was mother and Valide Sultan of Mahmud I.
  • Şehsuvar Kadın. She was mother and Valide Sultan of Osman III.
  • Bahtiyar Kadın. One of his first concubines, she was probably the mother of one of Mustafa's oldest daughters.
  • Ivaz Kadın. Mentioned as a Kadin in a document dated 1696/1697, she was probably the mother of one of Mustafa's oldest daughters.
  • Hatice Kadin. Before becoming a consort, she was a high-ranking harem lady-in-waiting.
  • Hüsnüşah Kadın. She died on 1 January 1700.
  • Fatma Şahin Hatun, then Hanim. Baş Ikbal. After Mustafa's deposition she was removed from the harem and married by order of Ahmed III.
  • Hanife Hatun, then Hanim. After Mustafa's deposition she was removed from the harem and married by order of Ahmed III. From her new husband she had a son named Ibrahim and a daughter.

    Sons

Mustafa II had at least eight sons, including five who died as infants with Afife Kadın:
  • Mahmud I – with Saliha Kadin. 24th Sultan of the Ottoman Empire.
  • Şehzade Mehmed – with Afife Kadın. He was the favorite son of Mustafa II, who suffered his death immensely.
  • Osman III – with Şehsuvar Kadin. 25th Sultan of the Ottoman Empire.
  • Şehzade Hasan. He became heir to the throne in 1730 and spent most of his life locked up in the Kafes, where he finally died.
  • Şehzade Hüseyn – with Afife Kadın.
  • Şehzade Selim – with Afife Kadın.
  • Şehzade Ahmed – with Afife Kadın.
  • Şehzade Suleyman – with Afife Kadın. Stillbirth. Four days after, Mustafa II died, too.

    Daughters

Mustafa II had at least twelve daughters, of which one, among the three eldest, with Afife Kadin:
  • Ayşe Sultan. Nicknamed "the eldest" to distinguish her from her cousin Ayşe Sultan "the younger", daughter of Ahmed III. She married three times, but had no children.
  • Emine Sultan. She married four times, but had no children.
  • Safiye Sultan - maybe with Afife Kadin. She married four times and had three sons and a daughter.
  • Atike Sultan -with Alicenab Baskadın.She died in infancy.
  • Hatice Sultan.
  • Rukiye Sultan.
  • Rukiye Ismihan Sultan -with Alicenab Başkadın. Her father promised her in wife to Maktülzade Ali Paşah, but the baby girl died before being able to celebrate the wedding.
  • Fatma Sultan.
  • Ümmügülsüm Sultan.
  • Emetullah Sultan – with Şehsuvar Kadın. Also called Ümmetullah Sultan or Heybetullah Sultan. She married once and had a daughter.
  • Zeynep Sultan.
  • Esma Sultan. She died in infancy.

    Death

After the new sultan's return to Istanbul, Mustafa and his princes were brought to Istanbul in the Topkapı Palace they were locked up in the Kafes. Mustafa's cage life lasted four months. He died of either sadness or an unknown cause on 29 December 1703. He was buried next to his grandmother, Turhan Hatice Sultan, in the New Mosque, Eminönü, Istanbul, Turkey.