Sultan Süleyman der Prächtige

Sultan Süleyman I. ca 1530;
Gemälde Tizian zugeschrieben

Heute möchte ich mal ein frei verfügbares Beispiel eines Artikels der renommierten Encyclopaedia of Islam vorstellen. Wer seriöse und fundierte Information zu allen möglichen Themen des Nahen Ostens, aber auch zu ehemals beherrschten Gebieten oder heutigen Regionen mit muslimischer Bevölkerung erfahren möchte, ist bei dieser Enzyklopädie an der richtigen Stelle. Es gibt auch einen Ableger in türkischer Sprache: İslâm Ansiklopedisi. Besonders bei Orientalisten ist dieses Nachschlagewerk ein unersetzliches Werkzeug, sollte aber auch bei hobbymäßig Interessierten in den Blick genommen werden. Zum Kaufen wird sie für die meisten sowohl in der CD-Version, als auch in Buchform zu teuer sein. Es gibt jedoch die Möglichkeit zumindest als Student in der Uni einen Zugang zur Online- oder zur CD-Version zu bekommen. Daneben bietet googlebooks Einblicke in viele Bände der Erstauflage.
Man sollte jedoch beachten, dass manchmal die Artikel der 2. Auflage etwas oder sogar sehr veraltet sein können. Daher ist momentan auch eine Neuauflage in Arbeit, in die sukzessive nachgeschlagen werden kann.

Süleymān

• Early years
• His accession
• Military campaigns 1521-36
• The military campaigns of 1537-55
• Other military operations
• The man and the ruler
• “The Magnificent”
• The campaign of Szigetvár

(926-74/1520-66), the tenth and most illustrious of the Ottoman sultans. There is a tradition of western origin, still current, according to which he was really Süleymān II, but that tradition has been based on an erroneous assumption that Süleymān Čelebi [q.v.] was to be recognised as a legitimate sultan; he was one of the sons of Bāyezīd I, who established himself at Adrianople after his defeat at Ankara. He received the epithet Ḳānūnī “the lawgiver” at an unspecified date; this is first mentioned at the beginning of the 18th century in the work of the historian Dimitri Kantemir (see C. Kafadar, in Süleyman the Second and his time, 41), while he was known in the west as Süleymān the Magnificent, the Great Turk, or the Great Lord.

Early years

He was born at Trebizond where his father, the future sultan Selīm I, had his residence as a sand̲j̲aḳ beg. Three different dates have been suggested for his birth: 6 November 1494; 27 April 1495; and April or May 1496 (see Meḥmed T̲h̲üreyyā, Sid̲j̲ill-i ʿot̲h̲mānī, i). One tradition, apparently going back to Jovius (see A. Fisher, in Süleymān the Second 9, n. 20), has it that his mother Ḥafṣa, a Tatar, was the daughter of the Crimean k̲h̲ān Mengli Giray, or of a Turkish woman; a document relating to a mosque founded in her name at Manisa showing her to be a convert to Islam denies this legend (Ç. Uluçay, Padişahların kadınları ve kızları (1980) 27).
His childhood was spent at Trebizond, where he was taught by a certain Ḵh̲ayr ul-Dīn Efendi, who remained in his entourage and where, according to Ewliyā Čelebi, he learned how to be a goldsmith from a Greek master-craftsman. He first governed as prince ( s̲h̲ehzāde ) at Kefe [q.v.] (Caffa, Feodosiya) in the east of the Crimea. In 1513 Süleymān became sand̲j̲aḳ beg of Manisa, a post which he occupied until his actual accession in 1520. In the interim, however, there were two separate occasions when Selīm appealed for his help during his absences. In 1514-15, during the campaign in Persia, he ensured that the lieutenancy for his father was maintained in Istanbul; and in 1516-18 he was put in charge of the defence of Adrianople in the campaign against the Mamlūks. He returned to Manisa on the premature death of his father (see Uluçay, in Kanunî armaǧanı, who publishes the registers of the transactions of the s̲h̲ehzāde ). ...

Weiter im Artikel beim Verlag.

(Bildquelle: Wikimedia Commons)