Ahmed III

Ahmed III (Ottoman Turkish: احمد ثالث, Aḥmed-i sālis) (30 December 1673 – 1 July 1736) was Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and a son of Sultan Mehmed IV (r. 1648–87). His mother was Gülnuş Sultan, originally named Evmenia Voria, who was an ethnic Greek. He was born at Hacıoğlu Pazarcık, in Dobruja. He succeeded to the throne in 1703 on the abdication of his brother Mustafa II (1695–1703). Nevşehirli Damat İbrahim Pasha and the Sultan's daughter, Fatma Sultan (wife of the former) directed the government from 1718 to 1730, a period referred to as the Tulip Era.

The first days of Ahmed III's reign passed with efforts to appease the janissaries who were completely disciplined.However, he was not effective against the janissaries who made him sultan. Çorlulu Ali Pasha, who Ahmed brought to the Grand Vizier, tried to help him in administrative matters, made new arrangements for the treasury and Sultan III.He supported Ahmed in his fight with his rivals.

Sultan Ahmed was born on 30 December 1673. His father was Sultan Mehmed IV, and his mother was Gülnuş Sultan, originally named Evmenia. His birth occurred in Hacıoğlupazarı, where Mehmed stayed to hunt on his return from Poland in 1673, while Gülnuş was pregnant at that time. In 1675, He and his brother, Prince Mustafa (future Mustafa II) were circumcised. During the same ceremony their sisters Hatice Sultan and Fatma Sultan were married to Musahip Mustafa Pasha and Kara Mustafa Pasha respectively. The celebrations lasted 20 days.

He grew up in the Edirne Palace. His schooling began during one of the sporadic visits of the court to Istanbul, following a courtly ceremony called bad-i basmala, which took place on 9 August 1679 in the Istavroz Palace. He was brought up in the imperial harem in Edirne with a traditional princely education, studying the Qur’an, the hadiths (traditions of Prophet Muhammad), and the fundamentals of Islamic sciences, history, poetry and music under the supervision of private tutors. One of his tutors was chief mufti Feyzullah Efendi.

Ahmed was apparently curious and intellectual in nature, spending most of his time reading and practising calligraphy. The poems that he wrote manifest his profound knowledge of poetry, history, Islamic theology and philosophy. He was also interested in calligraphy, which he had studied with the leading court calligraphers, primarily with Hafız Osman Efendi (died 1698), who influenced his art immensely, and, therefore, practiced it because of the influence of his elder brother, the future Sultan Mustafa II, who also became a notable calligrapher.

During his princehood in Edirne, Ahmed made friends with a bright officer-scribe, Ibrahim, from the city of Nevşehir, who was to become one of the outstanding Grand Viziers of his future reign. From 1687, following the deposition of his father, he lived in isolation for sixteen years in the palaces of Edirne and Istanbul. During this period he dedicatedhimself to calligraphy and intellectual activities.

Accession

Ahmed succeeded to the throne on 22 August 1703 when his brother Mustafa II was deposed from the throne and announced his withdrawal of the throne. The first Friday salute was held in Bayezid Mosque. Istanbul, which has been out of control for a long time, was not a peaceful and safe environment.As the confusions, arrests and executions continued, theft and robbery incidents were common.

Russo-Ottoman War of 1710–11

Ahmed III cultivated good relations with France, doubtless in view of Russia's menacing attitude. He afforded refuge in Ottoman territory to Charles XII of Sweden (1682–1718) after the Swedish defeat at the hands of Peter I of Russia (1672–1725) in the Battle of Poltava of 1709. In 1710 Charles XII convinced Sultan Ahmed III to declare war against Russia, and the Ottoman forces under Baltacı Mehmet Pasha won a major victory at the Battle of Prut. In the aftermath, Russia returned Azov back to the Ottomans, agreed to demolish the fortress of Taganrog and others in the area, and to stop interfering in the affairs of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.

Forced against his will into war with Russia, Ahmed III came nearer than any Ottoman sovereign before or since to breaking the power of his northern rival, whose armies his grand vizier Nevşehirli Damat İbrahim Pasha succeeded in completely surrounding at the Pruth River Campaign in 1711. The subsequent Ottoman victories against Russia enabled the Ottoman Empire to advance to Moscow, had the Sultan wished. However, this was halted as a report reached Istanbul that the Safavids were invading the Ottoman Empire, causing a period of panic, turning the Sultan's attention away from Russia.

Wars with Venice and Austria

On 9 December 1714, war was declared on Venice, and an army under Silahdar Damat Ali Pasha's command,the Ottomans managed to recover the whole Morea (Peloponnese) from Venice through coordinated operations of the army and navy.

This success alarmed Austria and in April 1716, Emperor Charles VI provoked the Porte into a declaration of war. The unsuccessful battle, alsocommanded by Silahdar Ali Pasha, ended with the treaty of Passarovitz, signed on 21 July 1718, according to which Belgrade, Banat, and little Wallachia were ceded to Austria. This failure was a real disappointment for Ahmed and after the bad conditions imposed by this treaty, Istanbul's economy suffered from increased inflation and all of its attendant evils.

Ibrahim Pasha who was the second leading figure of the empire after Ahmed had joined the Morea campaign in 1715, and was appointed as the city of Nish's minister of finance the following year. This post helped him realize the downturn of the state's finances and, due to his insight of this sensitive financial situation he avoided war as much as possible during his vizierate. Ibrahim Pasha's policy of peace suited Ahmed as well since he had no wish to lead any military campaigns, in addition to the fact that his interest in art and culture made him reluctant to leave his Istanbul.

Character of Ahmed's rule

While shooting competitions were held in Okmeydanı with the idea of increasing the morale of the soldiers and the people, a new warship was launched in Tersane-i Amir.He tried three grand viziers at short intervals.Instead of Hasan Pasha, he appointed Kalaylikoz Ahmed Pasha on 24 September 1704, and Baltacı Mehmed Pasha on 25 December 1704.It was a great pleasure that the ambassadors of Iran and Austria, who came from 1706–1707.In 1707, the conspiracy led by Eyüplü Ali Ağa was unearthed to bring the sultan off the throne.Necks were cut in front of the Bab-I-Hümayun . Ahmed III left the finances of the Ottoman Empire in a flourishing condition, which had remarkably been obtained without excessive taxation or extortion procedures. He was a cultivated patron of literature and art, and it was in his time that the first printing press authorized to use the Arabic or Turkish languages was set up in Istanbul, operated by Ibrahim Muteferrika (while the printing press had been introduced to Constantinople in 1480, all works published before 1729 were in Greek, Armenian, or Hebrew).

It was in this reign that an important change in the government of the Danubian Principalities was introduced: previously, the Porte had appointed Hospodars, usually native Moldavian and Wallachian boyars, to administer those provinces; after the Russian campaign of 1711, during which Peter the Great found an ally in Moldavia Prince Dimitrie Cantemir, the Porte began overtly deputizing Phanariote Greeks in that region, and extended the system to Wallachia after Prince Stefan Cantacuzino established links with Eugene of Savoy. The Phanariotes constituted a kind of Dhimmi nobility, which supplied the Porte with functionaries in many important departments of the state.

In 1714, an Egyptian galleon standing near the Gümrük (Eminönü) Pier caught fire and burned, and two hundred people died.

Relations with the Mughal Empire

Jahandar Shah

In the year 1712, the Mughal Emperor Jahandar Shah, the grandson of Aurangzeb sent gifts to the Ottoman Sultan Ahmed III and referred to himself as the Ottoman Sultan's devoted admirer.

Farrukhsiyar

The Mughal Emperor Farrukhsiyar a grandson of Aurangzeb, is also known to have sent a letter to the Ottomans but this time it was received by the Grand Vizier Nevşehirli Damad Ibrahim Pasha providing a graphic description of the efforts of the Mughal commander Syed Hassan Ali Khan Barha against the Rajput and Maratha rebellion.

Architecture

Ahmed III built water claps, fountain and park waterfalls. Ahmed, who built three libraries, one inside the Topkapı Palace, and one of the famous lines of his period.Ahmed was a master in the writings on plates.Some plates and inscriptions have survived.The “Basmala” at the Topkapi Palace apartment door with its plates in theÜsküdar Yeni Mosque are among them.

Topkapı Palace and its buildings have been the subject of many researches and publications.Among these researches, many different scope studies are also noticed together with postgraduate theses.Consequently, they provide rich information about the palace, which provides a long list of highly qualified scientific articles and books, guides and brochures promoting the palace and museum.However, Topkapi Palace and its units still have aspects to be explored and details to be discussed.Among them Ahmed III library can also be counted.

Deposition

Sultan Ahmed III had become unpopular by reason of the excessive pomp and costly luxury in which he and his principal officers indulged; on 20 September 1730, a mutinous riot of seventeen Janissaries, led by the Albanian Patrona Halil, was aided by the citizens as well as the military until it swelled into an insurrection in front of which the Sultan was forced to give up the throne.

Ahmed voluntarily led his nephew Mahmud I (1730–54) to the seat of sovereignty and paid allegiance to him as Sultan of the Empire. He then retired to the Kafes previously occupied by Mahmud and died at Topkapı Palace after six years of confinement.

Fire of 1718

While Nevşehirli Damat Ibrahim Pasha continued his preparations for return to Istanbul, a fire broke out in Istanbul.Unkapanı, Azapkapı, Zeyrek, Fatih, Saraçhane, Horhor, Etmeydanı, Molla Gürani, Altımermer, Ayazma Gate, Kantarcılar, Vefa, Vez neciler, Old Rooms, Acemioğlanlar Barracks, Çukur Çeşme, Langa, Davudpaşa districts were burned from the fire.

Earthquake of 1719

However, this festivity went astringent as it came just after the three-minute big earthquake on 14 May 1719.While the city walls of Istanbul were destroyed in the earthquake, 4000 people died in Izmit and Yalova was destroyed.After the earthquake, reconstruction work started in Istanbul.The most meaningful element that reflects the cultural aspect or weight of these works until today is the Topkapı Palace Enderun Library, which was built that year.A rich foundation was established for this institution, which is also known as Sultan Ahmed-i Salis Library, which has a face-to-face with its architectural and valuable manuscripts.

Consorts

• Emetullah Kadın (died 1739, buried in Eyüp Sultan Mosque);
• Rukiye Kadın;
• Emine Mihrişah Kadın (died 1732, buried in New Mosque, Istanbul);
• Rabia Şermi Kadın (died 1732, buried in New Mosque, Istanbul);
• Ümmügülsüm Kadın (died 1768, buried in New Mosque, Istanbul);
• Hatice Kadın (died 1722, buried in New Mosque, Istanbul);
• Fatma Kadın (died 1732, buried in New Mosque, Istanbul);
• Emine Muslı Kadın (died 1750, buried in New Mosque, Istanbul);
• Hanife Kadın (died 1750, buried in New Mosque, Istanbul);
• Zeynep Kadın (died 1757, buried in New Mosque, Istanbul);
• Şahin Kadın (died 1732, buried in New Mosque, Istanbul);
• Hace Hanım Kadın;
• Hurrem Kadın; (freed from slavery and returned to Russia)

Sons

• Şehzade Mehmed (26 November 1705 - died young);
• Şehzade Isa (23 February 1706 - 25 May 1706);
• Şehzade Ali (18 June 1706 - 12 September 1706);
• Şehzade Selim (8 September 1707 - 5 May 1708);
• Şehzade Murad (2 February 1708 - 10 April 1708);
• Şehzade Abdülmelik (12 December 1709 - 23 March 1711);
• Şehzade Süleyman (25 August 1710 - 11 December 1732), son of Mihrişah Kadın;
• Şehzade Mehmed (20 October 1712 – 15 July 1713);
• Şehzade Mehmed(29 June 1713- 11 August 1713);
• Şehzade Mehmed (14 January 1717- murdered 22 December 1756)
• Mustafa III (28 January 1717 - 21 January 1774), son of Mihrişah Kadın;
• Şehzade Mahmud (12 August 1717- 1756);
• Şehzade Bayezid (4 October 1718 - 25 January 1771);
• Şehzade Abdullah (18 December 1719 - 19 December 1719);
• Şehzade Selim (29 June 1720- 17 September 1742);
• Şehzade Ibrahim (8 January 1721 - 4 April 1721, buried in New Mosque, Istanbul);
• Şehzade Numan (22 February 1723 - 29 December 1764);
• Abdul Hamid I (20 March 1725 - 7 April 1789), son of Şermi Kadın;
• Şehzade Seyfeddin (3 February 1728 – 13 October 1732);

Daughters

• Fatma Sultan (22 September1704 – 4 January 1733), daughter of Emetullah Kadın.
• Hatice Sultan (21 January 1707 – 8 December 1708);
• Rukiye Sultan (10 May 1707 – 29 August 1707);
• Zeynep Sultan (8 February 1708 – 5 October 1708);
• Ümmügülsüm Sultan (11 February 1708 – 28 November 1732);
• Zeyneb Sultan (5 January 1710 – 1 August 1710);
• Hatice Sultan (4 October1710 – 1738), daughter of Rukiye Kadın;
• Atike Sultan (29 March 1712 – 2 April 1738);
• Rukiye Sultan (6 March 1712 – 26 November 1714);
• Zeynep Sultan (8 April 1714 – 25 March 1774);
• Saliha Sultan (21 March 1715 – 11 October 1778), daughter of Hace Hanım Kadın;
• Ayşe Sultan (24 November 1718 – 3 October 1776), daughter of Emine Muslıhe Kadın;
• Rabia Sultan (19 November 1719 – died in infancy)
• Emetullah Sultan (23 December 1719 – 5 February 1720);
• Emetullah Sultan (29 September 1723 – 28 July 1724);
• Naile Sultan (15 February 1725 – 10 December 1726);
• Nazife Sultan (31 May 17251 September 1726);
• Esma Sultan (14 March 1726 – 13 August 1788), daughter of Hanife Kadın;
• Sabiha Sultan (26 November 1726 – 3 December 1726);
• Rebia Sultan (4 August 1727 – 4 April 1728);
• Zübeyde Sultan (29 March 1728 - 4 June 1756), daughter of Emine Muslıhe Kadın;
• Ümmüseleme Sultan (died 1732);
• Emine Sultan (died 1732);

Ahmed lived in Kafes of the Topkapi Palace for six years following his deposition. Where he fall ill and died on 1 July 1736. He was buried in his grandmother's tomb in Turhan Sultan Mausoleum in New Mosque, at Eminönü in Istanbul.

In Voltaire's Candide, the eponymous main character meets the deposed Ahmed III on a ship from Venice to Constantinople. The Sultan is in the company of five other deposed European monarchs, and he tells Candide, who initially doubts his credentials:

I am not jesting, my name is Achmet III. For several years I was Sultan; I dethroned my brother; my nephew dethroned me; they cut off the heads of my viziers; I am ending my days in the old seraglio; my nephew, Sultan Mahmoud, sometimes allows me to travel for my health, and I have come to spend the Carnival at Venice." [1]

This episode was taken up by the modern Turkish writer Nedim Gürsel as the setting of his 2001 novel Le voyage de Candide à Istanbul.

In fact, there is no evidence of the deposed Sultan being allowed to make such foreign travels, nor did Voltaire (or Gürsel) assert that it had any actual historical foundation.

• This article incorporates text from the History of Ottoman Turks (1878)
• Târîh-i Râşid ve Zeyli (Râşid Mehmed Efendi ve Çelebizâde İsmaîl Âsım Efendi) (1071-1141/1660-1729) Cilt I-III. 2013. ISBN 978-6-055-24512-2.
• Aktaş, Ali (2008). ÇELEBİZÂDE ÂSIM TARİHİ: Transkripsiyonlu metin.
• Silahdar Findiklili Mehmed Agha (2001). Nusretnâme: Tahlil ve Metin (1106-1133/1695-1721).
• Sakaoğlu, Necdet (2015). Bu Mülkün Sultanları. Alfa Yayıncılık. ISBN 978-6-051-71080-8.
• Uysal, Zekiye (2019). Topkapı Sarayındaki III. Ahmet Kütüphanesi’nin Alçı Bezemeleri.