SELIM II

This article appears in Volume V24, Page 606 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: SCY-SHA

SELIM II . (15241574) was a son of Suleiman I. and his favourite Roxelana, and succeeded his father in 1566. He was the first sultan entirely devoid of military virtues and willing to abandon all power to his ministers, provided he were left free to pursue his orgies and debauches. Fortunately for the country, an able grand

vizier

VIZIER

, Mahommed Sokolli, was at the head of affairs, and two years after Selim's accession succeeded in concluding at

Constantinople

CONSTANTINOPLE
CONSTANTINOPLE, COUNCILS OF

an honourable treaty with the emperor

Maximilian

MAXIMILIAN
MAXIMILIAN (1832—1867)

II., whereby the emperor agreed to pay to Turkey an annual " present " of 30,000 ducats (Feb. 17, 1568). Against Russia he was less fortunate, and the first encounter between Turkey and her future northern rival gave presage of disaster to come. A plan had been elaborated at

Constantinople

CONSTANTINOPLE
CONSTANTINOPLE, COUNCILS OF

for uniting the

Volga

VOLGA (known to the
Tatars
- TATARS (the common form Tartars is less correct)
as Etil, Jill or Atel; to the Finnish tribes as Rau, and to the ancients as Rha and Oarus)

and Don by a canal, and in the summer of 1569 a large force of Janissaries and cavalry were sent today siege to Astrakhan and begin the canal works, while an Ottoman

fleet

FLEET

besieged

Azov

AZOV
AZOV, SEA OF

. But a sortie of the garrison of Astrakhan drove back the besiegers; 15,000 Russians, under Knes Serebianov, attacked and scattered the workmen and the Tatar force sent for their protection; and, finally, the Ottoman

fleet

FLEET

was destroyed by a

storm

. Early in 1570 the ambassadors of Ivan the Terrible concluded at Constantinople a treaty which restored friendly relations between the sultan and the tsar. Expeditions in the

Hejaz

HEJAZ (H1JAz)

and

Yemen

YEMEN (Yaman)

were more successful, and the conquest of Cyprus in 1571, which provided Selim with his favourite vintage, led to the calamitous naval defeat of Lepanto in the same year, the moral importance of which has often been under-estimated, and which at least freed the Mediterranean from the corsairs by whom it was infested. Turkey's shattered fleets were soon restored, and Sokolli was preparing for a fresh attack on Venice, when the sultan's death on the 12th of December 1574 cut short his plans. Little can be said of this degenerate son of Suleiman, who during the eight years of his reign never girded on the sword of Osman, and preferred the clashing of wine-goblets to the shock of arms, save that with the dissolute tastes of his mother he had not inherited her ferocity.

End of Article: SELIM II

If you wish, you can link directly to this article.

<a href="http://jcsm.org/StudyCenter/Encyclopedia/SCY_SHA/SELIM_II.html">
SELIM II
</a>

(Previous)
SELIM I

(Next)
SELIM III

JCSM was founded in 1997 and exists to help the community and bring people into a life-changing and productive relationship with Jesus Christ. JCSM offers over 200,000 free web pages, including its weekly inspirational emails that were sent continuously for over a decade.

Jesus Christ Saves Ministries
P.O. Box 9297
San Diego, CA 92169
1-888-887-0417 or Email