Honored by the Glory of Islam. Conversion and Conquest in Ottoman Europe

30 honored by the glory of islam

FIGURE 1. 2. Mehmed IV as child sultan. Anonymous, “Sultan Mechemet

Imp. de’Turchi,” Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Preußischer Kulturbesitz,

Kunstbibliothek, Lipperheide OZ 52, 1. Reproduced with permission.

leans on a cushion while two colorfully dressed midgets clap and cheer and dis-

tract him.^27 Little Mehmed looks not at his brightly dressed entertainers, both

of whom are smaller than he is, one of whom is bearded and the other wearing

a purple cap covered in golden stars, but off to the distance.

The seven-year-old became sultan, if not making the world tranquil then

at least quelling rebellion; his father, with the consent of his valide sultan,

was placed under house arrest in a room in the palace. When they came for