Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent,   1520 - 1566

* 1494. Süleyman succeeded his father Sultan Selim I in 1520. He was the most eminent of the Ottoman rulers. The Turks named him "The Law Giver". He conquered Belgrade (1521) and expelled the Knights of St. John from Rhodes (1522). In 1526 Süleyman won the battle at Mohács against the Hungarian king Louis II. Louis died on the battlefield, and a major part of Hungary became a vassal state. In 1529 Suleiman besieged Vienna, although in vain. In 1532 Süleymans's second campaign caused Charles V to appear in Austria with a large army but a decisive battle was avoided. The result was a truce with Archduke Ferdinand in 1533. Süleyman waged three major campaigns against Persia (1534-35, 1548-49, 1554-54) and completed the conquest of Irak, his father had began.
Sultan Süleyman employed administrators and statesmen of unusual ability. His fleet dominated the Mediterranean and the Red See, and his architects embellished the cities of the Islamic world. The Byzantine city of Constantinople was transformed into Istanbul, an Osman city, worthy to be the centre of the Turkish and Islamic empire, and the largest European city at the time. Christians were tolerated, but had to pay a poll tax.
Christian states both feared and admired Süleyman. His alliance with Francis I of France against Charles V. was the first alliance between the "infidels" and a major Christian power.
Since 1553, Süleyman's sons and pretenders to the throne troubled his reign. Süleyman died while besieging a fortress in western Hungary in 1566. He is buried in one of his own foundations, the Süleymaniye Mosque in Istanbul.

Ref.: J.Raby, in "Studies in the History of Art" (Vol.21): Italian Medals (Washington, 1986)