SULTAN IV. MUSTAFA HAN

Father : Sultan Abdülhamid I
Mother : Ayşe Sine (Seniye Perver Sultan)
Date of Birth : September 8, 1779
Accession to the Throne : May 29, 1807
Date of Dethronoment : July 28, 1808
Death : November 17, 1808

Sultan Mustafa was accessed to the Ottoman throne as the twentyninth Sovereign. He led an easy life at the palace as a prince and got a good education. He closely observed the situation the state was in; during the reign of Sultan Selim III. Although he was an open-minded person, he cooperated with those who fere against the activities of his uncle for the formation of a new army, and supported the Corps members for the initiation of uprisings. He thus, was involved in the dethronement of a young, reformist Sovereign, as the result of a rebellion; and was accessed to the throne at the end of a turmoil, through a fait accompli.

His short sovereignty was full of the domestic turmoils of the state. He was faced with the threat of dethronement by the rebels who had sneaked into the state and the palace. He is the first Sovereign who made an agreement with the Janissary Corps in order to calm down uprisings, thus establishing a partnership in the state’s administration, which partnership prepared his end.

Sultan Mustafa was rather tall, with fair complexion; a dense, black beard and a somewhat sulky face. His ill-temper prevented his getting on even with his intimate surroundings. He was such an excessively anxious person that he did not trust anybody.