SULTAN II. SELİM HAN

Father : Kanuni Sultan Süleyman
Mother : Hürrem Sultan
Date of Birth : 1524
Accession to the Throne : September 29, 1566
Death : December 21, 1574

He was born during his father’s siege of Rhodes in 930 A.H. (1523 A.D.). He ascended the throne in 974 A.H. (1566 A.D.). His first campaign was against the Persian Shah. He also undertook expeditions to the German and Austrian states and waged battles with the Tatars of Crimea and the Uzbeks, In fact, Abdullah Han, the ruler of the Circassians and the Georgians, likewise declared allegiance, and their envoys came with rich gifts to his court to ask for peace.

Later he organized campaigns to the regions of Basra and Baghdad. He annexed the shores of the Shatt al-Arab and made the ruler, Ibn’Alyan, pay homage to him. Similarly unruly tribes in the peninsula of Yemen were brought under subjection. He sent forces to Cyprus and Tunisia and during his reign two more provinces were established. Like his grandfather and namesake, Selim II, he also kept armies ready for action. He was merciful and just towards his subjects and paid no heed to rumor. While representing his father as the governor of a district, he had taken pains to boring water from a place which was two days away to a dry valley near Ereğli. Selim II established many charitable institutions and foundations in different parts of the Empire, including Istanbul and Mecca. His mosque complex in Edirne is particularly renowned. He also counstructed a mosque in Sophia under his name, where he also erected two medreses (theological college).

Selim II was a person with pleasing affable looks, a beatiful voice, fair hair, a broad and strong chest and well-proportioned and shapely limbs. He was a composer and also spoke eloquently. His turban was wrapped around a high mücevveze like that of his father Süleyman Han.