the ottoman empire dominated southeastern europe turkey and the middle east for years from the time of their establishment to the peak of their power in the th and th centuries however underneath such magnificence was the foundation made of dark and messed up practices that would besmirch their legacy and eventually resulted in their fall welcome to nutty history and today let's find out what creepy things were normal in the ottoman empire we all fight prank and tease our siblings the reason behind such attention seeking is the unconditional love we have for our brothers and sisters despite giving each
other a hard time siblings are also the first to stand up for their siblings when in need even though some horrible things happen as an exception such as fracture side at least we can be content knowing that we don't have it as bad as the ottoman empire unlike their tradition people today don't grow up preparing to kill all of their brothers before their brothers can kill them in the early generations of the ottoman empire the practice of primogeniture wasn't strictly followed primogenitor was or is the practice of a first-born legitimate child preferably male inheriting the belongings of his father after his passing the ottoman empire did things differently back then when mehmed the conqueror besieged constantinople
his own uncle was fighting against him from the walls in typical ottoman fashion mehmet dealt with his uncle he offered no mercy after he took the throne and he had a message for future generations of ottomans he began rounding up all of his male relatives and executing them his ruthlessness didn't even have an exception for his younger brother who was just an infant in the crib membert had him asphyxiated without batting an eye once mehmet was done disposing all his possible competitors for the throne he proclaimed and to whomsoever of my sons the sultanate shall pass it is fitting that for the order of the world he shall kill his brothers most of the alema allowed this so let them act on this thus began a series of generational civil wars where every sultan successor of the ottoman empire had to soak their hands in their own brothers cousins and uncle's blood to secure the throne for themselves it is
said that another mehmed emmett iii was so heartbroken that he tore his beard off in agony as his younger brother begged for mercy and swore again and again to never raise a weapon against him yet bound by the family tradition mehmet iii turned away without speaking the word and the loyalists killed the young boy along with the rest of the brothers of mammoth iii bodies of all siblings were thrown out on the streets of istanbul and it is said that the whole city cried for their souls that night now mind you the murders would not just stop after the sultan would secure the throne the hunt for all of the royal family's relatives would be carried on relentlessly even sullivan and magnificent's hands were not clean as he had his son asphyxiated on the streets with a bowstring just because his popularity had become a matter of paranoia for the most acclaimed sultan of the ottomans however when ahmed first
of his name abruptly died in a general agreement was struck between the relatives and the family he left behind instead of drenching the streets of istanbul with royal blood this time the clergy quietly established the practice of primogeniture and announced his younger brother mustafa the first as the new emperor because ahmed sons were too young to rule mustafa himself was spared by his brother ahmed the first as the year old and year old brothers were too close to order death toward one another since then the policy of killing relatives changed to incarcerating them potential heirs to the throne would be confined to the top copy palace in istanbul these special apartments would be referred to as the caves however in english this translates to the cages a prince of the ottoman empire would have to possibly spend his whole life in prison in the cave while being monitored day and night by guards these princes were given all sorts of luxury and they were able to live a lavish lifestyle fit for royal kin but their restrictions of house arrest were enforced strictly this caused many of the princes to go mad from boredom or become heavily debauched what a new sultan would be taken to the gate of felicity to
receive the allegiance of the viziers that very well would be the first time for him to be outside in decades not an ideal preparation for a man who was about to become the ruler was it and even though the ritualistic civil wars were put to an end the royal relatives would still live their lives in constant fear of losing their heads at any second now we know you might be feeling pity for those young princes and other relatives which sultans of the ottoman empire incarcerated for the simple crime of being related to them however do not curse the sultan for being a heartless monarch as their life was no better it might come as a shock to you but being a sultan of the ottoman empire meant next to no freedom life in top copy was suffocating no matter if you were a sultan or his potential heir according to the clergy
envisioners a sultan must have the wisdom of speaking only when necessary to convey the core message the quieter a sultan would be the wiser and more regal he might appear but the truth of the matter was at clergy eunuchs and viziers like sultans to stay quiet so they could make his decisions for him a particular sign language was developed for the sultans to convey their needs and decisions therefore have insulted and spending most of their days in utter silence the palace was filled with visions courtiers eunuchs and concubines who were hungry for gossip they would smother the sultan in an attempt to gather more power in their favor ahmed iii was so exasperated that he had to occasionally force pages and orderlies out of his room so he could have a private moment to put his pants on even then the population in his private chamber would be about half a dozen people including the sword bearers who were tasked with throwing extra people out for him a sultan had many struggles this included the internal tug of war between factions and personnel creepy quiet halls of a huge palace
bottling up the anxiety depression paranoia and the guilt of imprisoning and killing your own kin did we mention they had to keep their food hole shut for the majority of the day no wonder a lot of them became insane or gravely ill in such an intoxicating atmosphere [Music] one of the most famous elements of the ottoman empire was the harem in the early generations of the ottoman empire royal marriages were coveted for forging alliances rendering them mere diplomatic negotiations and nothing more however ottomans soon realized that concubines were easier to maintain and thus harems emerged as the keep for the sultan's concubines interestingly the heron was managed by the sultan's mother technically the harem was a women's only place in the royal ottoman home men were not allowed to enter the harem except the bedroom to spend the night with one of the wives or concubines the mother would also act as the procurer of fine lays for her son and make sure he would not spend too
much time with one wife or concubine so that none of the women could influence a sultan too much and become powerful on her own also after bearing a son a concubine was forbidden from sleeping with a sultan again you know so others could have their shot between the years and the harem gained too much control and influence over the royal court and practically ran the empire from behind their screens and curtains this period of years is now known as the sultanate of women any number of concubines were allowed in the palace at one time and all of the sons born from a slave concubine were considered legitimate if the sultan wished for it however to earn the right to sleep with a sultan a concubine had to get clearance from the sultan's mother when murad iii spent too much time with his favorite wife safire his mother sabanya sultan convinced him to sleep with other women in the harem and his sister even presented him with more concubines [Music] ottomans were also known for their fierce justice well calling it justice would be downplaying the situation let's just say their punishment system liked to distribute beheadings the first court of top copy palace featured two pillars on which
executioners would hang the severed heads the pillars were also accompanied by a fountain so the executioners could clean themselves after the beheadings during the palace surge mounds of tongues might be piled up in the first court like seasonal decorations while a special cannon fired every time a body was thrown into the sea one might assume ottomans hired a whole corps of executioners for executing because it was such a laborious job you know multiple death sentences and all yeah that wasn't the case though apparently sultan's invisioners found the gardeners of the royal palace qualified enough for the job seriously did they think clipping branches and clipping necks were the same thing in
the early days of the empire the sultan's officials prided themselves on their obedience to his whims and it was customary for them to face execution with quiet grace also it was forbidden to spill the blood of royalty in high-ranking officials so they had to be asphyxiated instead that is why head gardeners were chosen for execution or duties not because of their trialing skills but based on how huge and muscular they were while most visitors accepted their punishment with grace and dignity that was not always the case during the late th century viziers were granted a second chance if they could literally escape the punishment yes the sultans turned the officer's execution into a sport hunger games anyone the official would be summoned to a meeting with the head gardener and after exchanging greetings the vizier
would be handed a cup of ice sherbert if it was white the sultan had granted him a reprieve but if it was red he was to be executed as soon as a vizier saw the rich sherbert he would start sprinting towards the exit the goal was to make his way to the fish market gate before the head gardener could catch him the path well it wasn't short and it wasn't easy the vizier would have to make his way through the palace gardens find his way between shady cypress trees and rows of tulips run across the grated harem windows where women would watch an amusement as vizier would dash towards the gate for his life if the vizier made it his life would be pardoned reducing his sentence to exile if the gardener caught him
well usually the facade was nothing more than a source of entertainment for the sultan the rest of the palace visitors were frail old or middle-aged men some were obviously out of shape to outrun a much fitter and stronger head gardener still interestingly there were a few winners asi solipasha was the last vizier to face the death race and survive he was widely congratulated by the sultan and the rest of the attendees and later he became a provincial governor one of the most notorious features of early ottoman rule was the derfs of may also known as blood tax among europeans now this blood tax was a collection of of children ages between to from every christian city village or country under the rule of
the ottomans these kids would be circumcised and forcefully converted to islam and most of them would enroll in the janissary corps the janissary corps was an elite infantry unit of the ottomans who were tasked to guard the sultan and his palace this was the first modern standing army in europe ottoman officials would visit the christian villages and summon all the boys to check their names against the baptismal record from the local church the kids would then be ranked based on their strength agility and endurance on average they took one boy from every households these boys now deemed slaves would be grouped and taken to istanbul the ottomans didn't care if the weaker ones
dropped dead on their march to istanbul the ottomans also kept a detailed description of these young slaves so they could be tracked down in case they successfully managed to escape in istanbul further training and conditioning awaited turning these kids into faithful muslims and loyal soldiers before they joined the janissary the most handsome and intelligent ones found their place in the imperial elite by the side of the sultan as horrible and devastating as taming and abducting christians was ottomans had one rule about it it was forbidden to take a family soul child or children of men who had already served in the ottoman military orphans and hungarians were off limits due to trust issues so what do you think were ottomans that great history as history sometimes portrays them or not
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