Murad IV

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	Sultan Murad IV Ottoman Period
Preceded by Mustafa I	Ottoman Sultan 1623–40	Succeeded by Ibrahim I

Murad IV (Ottoman Turkish: مراد رابع Murād-i rābi‘) (June 16, 1612 – February 9, 1640) was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1623 to 1640, known both for restoring the authority of the state and for the brutality of his methods.

Murad IV was the son of Sultan Ahmed I (1603–17) and the Greek [[1]] Sultana Kösem Sultan. Brought to power by a palace conspiracy in 1623, he succeeded his mad uncle Mustafa I (1617–18, 1622–23). He was only eleven when he took the throne. Murad IV was for a long time under the control of his relatives and during his early years as Sultan, his mother, Kösem Sultan, essentially ruled through him. The Empire fell into anarchy; the Persians invaded almost immediately, Northern Anatolia erupted in revolts, and in 1631 the Janissaries stormed the palace and killed the Grand Vizier, among others. Murad IV feared suffering the fate of his elder brother, Osman II (1618–22), and decided to assert his power. He had the Grand Vizier beheaded, had 500 military leaders strangled, and executed 20,000 rebels in Anatolia. Continuing the Ottoman tradition of fratricide, Murad IV had his brother Bayezid killed in 1635, followed by the executions of two more brothers a few years later.

Murad IV tried to quell the corruption that had grown during the previous Sultans, and that had not been checked while his mother was ruling through proxy. This was achieved through numerous ways, such as limiting wasteful spending. He also banned alcohol and tobacco in Istanbul. He ordered execution for breaking this ban. He would patrol the streets and taverns of İstanbul in civilian clothes at night, policing the enforcement of his command. If while patrolling the streets he saw a soldier using tobacco or alcohol he killed the soldier on the spot with his sword. His harshness was the reason for his nickname 'cruel'. Even though Murad IV banned tobacco and alcohol, he was himself an alcoholic.

Murad IV was a huge and tall man. He was a wrestler and a warrior. His strength was nearly phenomenal. He was mostly known by his wrestling opponents for holding and twisting them on top of his head using only one hand. He also used a huge mace (weighing 50 kilograms) and a two-handed large sword (weighing more than 50 kilograms) in battles. (These weapons can be seen in Topkapı Museum in İstanbul.)

Militarily, Murad IV's reign is most notable for a war against Persia in which Ottoman forces conquered Azerbaijan, occupied Tabriz, Hamadan, and, in the last great feat of Imperial Ottoman arms, captured Baghdad in 1638. Murad IV himself commanded the invasion of Mesopotamia and proved to be an outstanding field commander. He was the last Ottoman Sultan to command an army on the battlefield. During his campaign to Iran, he annihilated all rebels in Anatolia and restored order to the state. As a result, many local places were given his name by their residents so as to show their gratitude.

Before his death Murad IV signed a peace treaty (1639) with the Persian Safavid dynasty. After his return to İstanbul he ordered respected statesmen of the Empire to prepare a new economic and political project to return to the Empire the old glorious days. But his illness and young death never let him to implement his ideas to the Empire.

Murad IV died aged 27 from cirrhosis of the liver in 1640. On his deathbed he ordered the execution of his brother, Ibrahim (1640–48), which would have meant the end of the Ottoman line, but the order was not carried out. Murat possibly gave this order because he thought that Ibrahim was not capable for being an emperor. Ibrahim was considered by many historians to be mentally ill.

[edit] See also

• Ottoman-Commonwealth War (1633-1634)