Ibrahim of the Ottoman Empire

Ibrahim was born on 5 November 1615, the son of Sultan Ahmed I and his favorite concubine who later became his legal wife, Kösem Sultan. When Ibrahim was 2, his father suddenly died, and Ibrahim's uncle Mustafa I became the new sultan. By that time, Kosem Sultan and her children, including young Ibrahim had been sent to the Old Palace. After the succession of his brother Murad IV, Ibrahim was confined in the Kafes, which affected his health. Ibrahim's other brothers Şehzade Bayezid, Şehzade Suleiman and Şehzade Kasım had been executed by the order of Sultan Murad IV, and because of that Ibrahim feared that he was next in the line. However, after his brother's death, Ibrahim became the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire.

Mass discontent was caused by the Venetian blockade of the Dardanelles—which created scarcities in the capital—and the imposition of heavy taxes during a war economy to pay for Ibrahim's whims. In 1647 the Grand Vizier Salih Pasha, Kösem Sultan, and the şeyhülislam Abdürrahim Efendi unsuccessfully plotted to depose the sultan and replace him with one of his sons. Salih Pasha was executed and Kösem Sultan was exiled from the harem.[11]

The next year the Janissaries and members of the ulema revolted. On 8 August 1648, corrupt Grand Vizier Aḥmed Pasha was strangled and torn to shreds by an angry mob, gaining the posthumous nickname "Hezarpare" ("thousand pieces").[9] On the same day, Ibrahim was seized and imprisoned in Topkapı Palace.[10] Kösem gave consent to her son's fall, saying "In the end he will leave neither you nor me alive. We will lose control of the government. The whole society is in ruins. Have him removed from the throne immediately."[12]

Ibrahim's six-year-old son Meḥmed was made sultan. The new grand vizier, Ṣofu Meḥmed Pasha, petitioned the sheikh ul-Islam for a fatwā sanctioning Ibrahim's execution. It was granted, with the message "if there are two caliphs, kill one of them." Kösem also gave her consent. Two executioners were sent for; one being the chief executioner who served under Ibrahim.[13] As officials watched from a palace window, Ibrahim was strangled on 18 August 1648. His death was the second regicide in the history of the Ottoman Empire.

Ibrahim was obsessed with larger women, and he would direct his officers to find the fattest women in his empire so that he could add them to his large harem as concubines.[14][15]

Ibrahim is said to have drowned 280 concubines of his harem in the Bosphorus.[16][17] At least one of his concubines, Turhan Sultan, a Rus' girl (from the area around modern Ukraine) who came into the Ottoman empire as a slave sold by Nogai slavers, survived his reign.

Consorts

Ibrahim I by Arolsen Klebeband

All of Ibrahim's Hasekis received 1,000 aspers a day except for Aşub Sultan who received 1,300 aspers a day.[18] Ibrahim gifted the incomes of Bolu, Hamid, Nicopolis Sanjaks, and Syria Eyalet to Aşub, Mahienver, Saçbağı, and Şivekar Sultans respectively.[19] He also lavished the treasury of Egypt upon Saçbağı and Hümaşah Sultans,[20] and presented the Ibrahim Pasha Palace to Hümaşah. His consorts were:

• Turhan Sultan, first Haseki, and the mother of Mehmed IV;[21]
• Muazzez Sultan, second Haseki, and the mother of Ahmed II;[21]
• Saliha Dilaşub Sultan, third Haseki, and the mother of Suleiman II;[21]
• Ayşe Sultan, the fourth Haseki;[21][22]
• Mahienver Sultan, fifth Haseki;[21]
• Saçbağı Sultan,[20] sixth Haseki;
• Şivekar Sultan,[21] seventh Haseki;
• Hümaşah Sultan, eighth Haseki, also known as Telli Haseki, Ibrahim's only legal wife, married in 1647;[21]

Sons

• Mehmed IV (2 January 1642 – 6 January 1693) – with Turhan Sultan;
• Suleiman II (15 April 1642 – 22/23 June 1691) – with Aşub Sultan;
• Ahmed II (25 February 1643 – 6 February 1695) – with Muazzez Sultan;
• Şehzade Murad (22 March 1643 – 16 January 1645);
• Şehzade Selim (19 March 1644 – October 1669);
• Şehzade Osman (August 1644 – 1646);
• Şehzade Bayezid (1 May 1646 – August 1647);
• Şehzade Cihangir (14 December 1646 – 1 December 1648);
• Şehzade Orhan (October 1648 – January 1650) – with Hümaşah Sultan.

Daughters

Ibrahim had three daughters,[23] including the following :

• Fatma Sultan (1642–1657),[24] married firstly, January 1645, Musahip Silahdar Yusuf Pasha (executed 22 January 1646), Admiral of the Fleet and Vizier, married secondly, 23 February 1646, Fazlı Pasha (died 1657), Admiral of the Fleet;[23][25]
• Gevherhan Sultan (1642, Constantinople – 21 September 1694, Edirne, buried in Şehzade Mosque),[26] married firstly, 23 November 1646, Cafer Pasha, married secondly, Çavușzade Mehmed Pasha (died 1681), Admiral of the Fleet and Vizier, married thirdly on 13 January 1692, Helvacı Yusuf Pasha (died 1714);[23][25][26]
• Beyhan Sultan (1645 – 5 March 1701, Istanbul, buried in Süleyman I Mausoleum, Süleymaniye Mosque),[27] married firstly, 1647, Hezarpare Ahmed Pasha (murdered 1648), Grand Vizier 1647–1648, married secondly, Uzun Ibrahim Pasha (died 1683), married thirdly on 13 March 1691, Bıyıklı Mustafa Pasha (died 1699);[23][25][26]

At one point Ibrahim took a great liking to the infant son of a slave woman, to the extent of preferring the unrelated child to his son Mehmed. Turhan, Mehmed's mother, grew extremely jealous and vented her anger to Ibrahim, who flew into a rage and grabbed Mehmed from Turhan's arms and threw him into a pool. Mehmed would have drowned if a servant had not rescued him. He was left with a permanent scar on his forehead.[28]

The tragic play Ibrahim, the Thirteenth Emperor of the Turks, written by Mary Pix and first performed in 1699, purported to describe incidents in Ibrahim's life. The numbering is correct only if Mehmed the Conqueror is regarded as the First Emperor, and the disputed reign of his son Cem is counted as well.

In the Turkish series, Muhteşem Yüzyıl: Kösem he is portrayed by actor Ridvan Aybars Duzey as a prince and by Tugay Mercan as a Sultan.[29]

• Rank, Scott. History's 9 Most Insane Rulers (2020) ch 4.

• Media related to Ibrahim of the Ottoman Empire at Wikimedia Commons