Mehmed III.

Mehmed III. (* May 26, 1566, † December 22, 1603 ) was Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1595 to 1603.

Accession

Mehmed III. , The son of Murad III. , Was very carefully prepared for his office. When he came to power, he had assassinated his nineteen younger brothers, most of them still in childhood. This cruel by today's standards regime should (also see harem ) avoided under the usually numerous male heirs to the throne of Sultan future disputes about the succession, but was no longer practiced by his successors. Instead of murdering them, put future heir to the throne her younger brothers usually live long under strict house arrest. Have the potential successor of Ahmed I. still in a " Prince cage " accommodated said part of the seraglio, as they were later banned on why so-called Princes' Islands ( Demonesinseln, Turkish Adalar ), a group of islands in the Sea of ​​Marmara before the present-day city of Istanbul, Bostanci, Maltepe, Kartal and Pendik.

Regency

Mehmed III. then pretended to be the Sultan idleness back and gave his mother Safiye the government. An important event of his time was the "Long Turkish War " ( 3rd Austrian Turkish War ) 1593-1606, in the first Sultan Mehmed as since Suleiman personally took command. His army conquered Eger (Eger) in 1596 and defeated the Habsburgs in Mezőkeresztes (now in Borsod -Abaúj -Zemplén, Hungary ), where Mehmed had to be persuaded during the battle, do not just run away.