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Accession of Ahmed I

Type Event Region West Asia Time 1603

On 22 December 1603 Ottoman Sultan Mehmed III died, and his thirteen-year-old son Ahmed I acceded the same day as the empire's fourteenth sultan.

Timeline

  1. 1603Topkapi Palace · Ottoman EmpireSultan Mehmed III died at Topkapi Palace, aged thirty-seven. His cause of death was recorded as plague or grief over a beloved son's death. The Imperial Council was convened at once to prepare for a new ruler.
  2. 1603Topkapi Palace · Ottoman EmpireThirteen-year-old Ahmed I was brought out of the palace and enthroned before the Imperial Council, completing the sword-girding ceremony the next day. The harem power struggle between his mother Handan Sultan and grandmother Safiye Sultan ended in Handan's victory.
  3. 1603Topkapi Palace · Ottoman EmpireAhmed I did not order the execution of his twelve-year-old half-brother Mustafa, breaking the fratricide custom continued since Mehmed II. Mustafa was sent to the Old Palace with his mother, and the Ottomans thereafter confined royal heirs under the 'kafes' system, marking a fundamental shift in succession.

Sources