Early years
On May 28, 1524, Selim was born in Constantinople during his father Suleiman the Magnificent's reign. His mother was Hürrem Sultan, the concubine of the then-current Sultan and the daughter of an Orthodox priest. His mother, Hürrem, was set free in 1533 or 1534 and married Suleiman legally. He had a sister, Mihrimah Sultan, and four brothers, Şehzade Mehmed, Şehzade Bayezid, Şehzade Abdullah, and Şehzade Cihangir. A three-week festival centered on Selim's circumcision, along with that of his older brothers Mustafa and Mehmed, was held in Constantinople in June and July of 1530. The princes underwent circumcision on June 27, 1530. The celebrations included reenactments of recent events, performances by jugglers and strongmen, and displays of captured enemy artifacts. Suleiman was instrumental, keeping an eye on everything from a loggia in the Hippodrome, while Pargalı Ibrahim Pasha energetically managed the events and lavished the sultan and the princes with gifts.
He and his brother Mehmed accompanied their father on his expedition to Corfu on May 15, 1537. This was his sons' first time serving in the military. A message of dynastic continuity was communicated by their participation in a military operation. He and Mehmed went to Edirne for the winter with the sultan in 1540. He and Mehmed joined their father in his march to Buda on June 15, 1541. After being named governor of the province of Karaman in 1542, he traveled to Konya. Selim took over as Saruhan's district governor in the spring of 1544 after Mehmed's untimely death in November 1543. In the summer of 1544, Selim, his parents Suleiman and Hürrem, his sister Mihrimah, and Mihrimah's spouse Rávem Pasha came together in Bursa. Selim was sent to Edirne to serve as the sultan's stand-in during the 1548–49 military campaign against the Safavids. He fought alongside his father against the Safavids in 1553, spending the most of the campaign with Suleiman. On their father's instructions, Mustafa, his older half-brother, was put to death during this campaign.
Succession struggle
A man posing as Şehzade Mustafa staged an uprising in northeastern Bulgaria in 1555. By redistributing taxes and garnering support, he organized his supporters like the Ottoman government. Knowing what was going on, Bayezid prepared militarily and started talks. Sokullu Mehmed Pasha was dispatched by Suleiman to put an end to the rebellion. After the pretender's main vizier was persuaded to defect by Bayezid's emissary, the leader was apprehended and executed in Constantinople on July 31, 1555. There were rumors that Bayezid was behind the uprising, but Suleiman's wife Hürrem prevented him from being punished. The antagonism between Bayezid and Selim persisted in the succession-related tensions. By making calculated moves, such as moving Bayezid to Germiyan, they were able to keep their positions stable and were both prepared to return to the capital when they learned of their father's fate.
Suleiman's ongoing health issues led to attempts to refute reports that he would soon pass away. When Suleiman returned to Constantinople in June 1557, the French ambassador remarked his calculated display of energy, dispelling rumors about succession preparations. After Hürrem, who was well-known for mediating between her sons, passed away in April of 1558, the dynamics drastically changed. In order to reassign his sons, Selim and Bayezid, to new, far-off governorates, Suleiman sought their assistance. Moving Selim from Manisa to Konya and Bayezid from Kütahya to the isolated town of Amasya was part of the plan. In addition, the sons of both brothers received governorships in minor counties close to their fathers' postings. Suleiman sent Bayezid to Amasya and Selim to Konya when he relocated his sons in September.
Bayezid and his army left Amasya and moved on Ankara in the middle of April 1559. Even while he told his father that he wanted to go back to Kütahya, it soon became clear that his real goal was to kill Selim in order to be the only successor to the throne before Suleiman sided with Selim. Suleiman ordered the third vizier, Sokullu Mehmed, to join Selim with janissaries and Rumeli troops after learning of Bayezid's invasion. Bayezid changed his route from Ankara to the south, coming close to Konya by late May 1559 before Constantinople's armies arrived. Anticipating the assault, Selim took a defensive position with more troops and won the battle on May 30 and 31.
Along with four of his sons and ten thousand warriors, Bayezid set off on an eastern march from Amasya in July of 1559. When he arrived in Yerevan, a Safavid town, in the fall of that year, the governor showed him a great deal of respect. When he finally reached Qazvin in October, Shah Tahmasp I greeted him enthusiastically at first and threw lavish banquets for him. On Sultan Suleiman's insistence, however, Tahmasp imprisoned Bayezid in April 1560. Suleiman and Selim both sent envoys to Persia in an attempt to convince Shah Tahmasp to put Bayezid to death. Embassies traveled back and forth between Istanbul and Qazvin for the following 18 months. When the final Ottoman embassy arrived on July 16, 1561, its official mission was to try to bring Bayezid back to Istanbul. Ali Aqa Chavush Bashi, Sinan Pasha, Hŏrev Pasha, and two hundred officials made up this delegation.
In the letter that accompanied the embassy, Suleiman stated that he was prepared to reaffirm the Treaty of Amasya (1555) and promote a new phase of Ottoman-Safavid relations. During these diplomatic endeavors, Suleiman gave Tahmasp a number of presents and promised to compensate him for turning over Bayezid; Tahmasp received 400,000 gold coins. Finally, on September 25, 1561, Tahmasp turned over Bayezid and his four sons. The Ottoman executioner, Ali Aqa Chavush Bashi, used the garroting method to execute them close to Qazvin. Selim had been appointed governor of Kütahya at the beginning of 1562, and he lived his final years as a prince in peace in his court in Kütahya after Bayezid's death.
Reign
Accession
After his father died on September 6, 1566, Selim took the throne on September 29, 1566 [46]. His initial enthronement ceremony took place in Istanbul, even though the military and viziers were at Szigetvár, Hungary. A call for a new ceremony in Belgrade resulted from the ceremony's lack of recognition. Three days later, on October 2, the sultan departed Istanbul.[46] Until Selim reached the army in Belgrade, the cunning grand vizier Sokollu Mehmed Pasha kept Suleiman's death a secret to protect the enthronement and ascension process. In front of the royal tent in Belgrade, a throne stood between two tuğs (horsehair battle standards). After that, the loyalty ceremony was held there. When the new sultan visited Belgrade without providing the accession bonus, the standing army asked for guarantees of promotion and gratuity, but the sultan turned them down. As a result, the troops revolted upon arriving in Istanbul, claiming that there had been no formal enthronement ceremony.
Character of Selim's rule
Throughout his whole tenure, Sokollu Mehmed Pasha, the grand vizier, had considerable authority over government in this new political climate.[53] Mehmed Pasha was Suleiman's grand vizier for a long time before Selim took over. He built a trustworthy network of proteges and was well-known for placing family members and colleagues in important positions throughout the empire. According to contemporary reports, Sokollu had virtual sovereignty under Selim's rule, with the grand vizier successfully running the empire. Selim's minimal participation in government can be ascribed to both a major change in the political climate of the empire and Sokollu's dominant position. Selim's rule was characterized by the establishment of the court and favorites system as well as the sedentarization of the sultanate, which subsequently became key features of power struggles among his successors.
Starting with Selim, the sultans spent much of their time in the palace and refrained from taking part in military expeditions. The janissaries gradually grew more powerful during his rule at the sultan's expense. The janissaries' demands for "accession money" had grown; rather than advancing the state, they exploited their position of authority to secure greater advantages for themselves. Janissaries might now marry and enlist their sons in the Corps.
Treaties of Edirne and Speyer
Following the conclusion of the Treaty of Edirne in 1568, Maximilian II, the Habsburg Holy Roman Emperor, continued to pay the sultan an annual tribute and acknowledged the Ottoman gains in Hungary. The treaty of Speyer, which was signed during the imperial diet in 1570, resolved the long-standing Transylvanian dispute that had caused tensions between the Ottomans and Habsburgs. By signing this contract, John Sigismund Zápolya gave up his position as the elected king of Hungary and took on the titles of prince of Transylvania and the surrounding regions of Hungary. John Sigismund accepted Maximilian's suzerainty over his principality, which remained a part of the Holy Crown of Hungary, and Maximilian acknowledged these modifications. The Transylvanian ruler still remained a vassal of the Ottoman Empire. The Principality of Transylvania was essentially a twofold dependency, with the Habsburg rulers of Hungary and the sultan both limiting its power.
Astrakhan expedition
Selim attempted to take Astrakhan in 1569 but was unsuccessful. Building a canal to link the Don and Volga rivers was one of his most ambitious projects, even if it was never completed. This massive undertaking, supported by Grand Vizier Sokollu Mehmed Pasha, required excavating almost 40 miles of difficult terrain. If finished, the canal would help the Ottomans strategically along their northern boundaries by limiting Muscovy's progress and providing a platform from which to launch future assaults on Safavid Persia. Unfortunately, the building of the canal was hampered by unfavorable weather and chaos among the soldiers sent to the area.
Campaigns in the Mediterranean
The Mediterranean saw naval campaigns during his rule. Cyprus was taken from the Venetians by the Ottomans in 1571, and it became a new province along with other areas in mainland Anatolia. Migration was first discouraged by the island's severe environment, but later a sizable number of Turkish settlers settled there as a result of government pressure. The Holy League, which included Spanish, Venetian, and papal fleets, responded for the conquest of Cyprus in the pivotal Battle of Lepanto, a major Christian stronghold, the same year. The Ottoman navy was severely defeated, necessitating a year-long reconstruction effort, although the state was still affected by the loss of qualified naval men during Selim's rule. Despite this loss, a significant naval victory was achieved in 1574, just before Selim's death, when the citadel of Tunis was reclaimed from Spain.
Architecture
By ordering the construction of the magnificent Takiyya al-Sulaimaniyya mosque, which is located outside the city walls along the Barada River, Suleiman left a lasting legacy in Damascus. Known as the Takiyya because of the Sufi hostel (tekke or zawiyya) located in its courtyard chambers, it was created in 1554 by the famous architect Sinan. In 1566–67, Selim added the Madrasa Salimiyya to his father's mosque. This edifice later served as the beginning point for the yearly pilgrimage to Mecca. Selim showed his love for the ancient Ottoman capital by choosing Edirne over Istanbul, particularly enjoying trips and hunting excursions there. Thus, he started building a large mosque in this location. Sultan Selim's principal architect, Mimar Sinan, oversaw the construction of the greatest Ottoman mosque, Selimiye Mosque, between 1569 and 1575. Between 1572 and 1574, he also worked with Sinan to renovate the Hagia Sophia Mosque significantly. The buttresses were fixed, two new minarets were installed, and the wooden minaret was replaced with a brick one as part of this renovation. In order to establish the imperial mosque's distinctive courtyard, nearby buildings were also removed.
Death
At the age of fifty, Selim passed away on December 15, 1574, after slipping and falling on a marble floor while intoxicated. In Istanbul's Hagia Sophia Mosque, he was interred in his tomb.