pa rt I I
th through th Centuries
Expansion and Cultural Splendor:
The Creation of a Sunni Islamic Empire
Building on the achievements of Mehmed the Conqueror and his son
Bayezid II (r. 1481–1512), the Ottoman Empire expanded in different directions
during the reign of Selim I (r. 1512–1520). Selim defeated the Safavid shah Ismail
and expanded into eastern Anatolia; political implications then contributed to
the hardening of the religious divide between Sunni and Shiɇi populations in
Ottoman lands. Also, Selim defeated the Mamluks in 1517 and incorporated their
lands of Syria, Egypt, and the Arabian Peninsula into the empire. This compli-
cated Ottoman identity because, as a result, many Muslims in the empire were
distinctly different ethnically and linguistically from the Turkish-speaking Mus-
lims of Anatolia and the Balkans. Selim’s son Süleyman (r. 1520–1566) confronted
the challenges of truly incorporating these large and distinctly different territo-
ries into the empire. Expansion continued during Süleyman’s reign into Hungary
and Iraq, adding to the empire’s diversity. Additionally, because of his rivalry
with the Hapsburgs, the Ottomans became a formidable naval power, especially
in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, ruling extensive Mediterranean lands,
including North Africa as far as Algiers. Thus, as the result of these conquests
additional distinct populations were brought under Ottoman rule, and their in-
corporation demanded innovations in Ottoman methods of governing.
Süleyman was known as “the Magnificent” to his European contemporaries
but as Kanuni, or “the lawgiver,” to his subjects. The sultan issued decrees to
resolve questions in legal issues that Islamic law did not address. These decrees
were codified to provide the basis for a just administration of the empire. The
sultan provided educational institutions to train scholars in the law and then ap-
pointed judges to administer both Islamic and sultanic law.
While legal scholars were trained in state-supported madrasas (educational
institutions to learn the law), the administrative elite of the empire, who were
recruited from the devşirme (levy of Christian boys), received their education in
the palace school. The palace was thus more than the residence of the ruler; it was
where the elite were educated and where the majority of government business