9. The Osmanlı Caliphate I (1289-1566)

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم وصلى الله على سيدنا محمد وعلى ءاله وصحبه أجمعين وسلّم

Title: 9. The Osmanlı Caliphate I (1289-1566)

Author: Uthman Ibrahim-Morrison

Publication date: 03/11/2012

Assalamu alaykum. Welcome to the Muslim History Programme of the MFAS. This is the ninth of 12 sessions which make up the History of the Khalifas module. The entire session will last approximately 1 hour and comprise a lecture of around 40 minutes, followed by a 10 minute interval, and ending with a short question & answer period. You are encouraged to make a written note of any questions that may occur to you for clarification after the lecture.

Introduction

Needless to say, any attempt to condense almost 300 years of Osmanlı history into a 40 minute lecture can only consist of a broad outline, as any single one of the Sultans, leading figures, major military campaigns or other significant episodes, could easily by themselves merit an entire term’s study. Therefore, the account that follows is simply intended to provide the listener or reader with an overall picture of the historical background and circumstances which gave rise to the Osmanlı Dawla, and a greatly simplified, but reliable sense of its dynastic progression and political vicissitudes. The maps provided will hopefully be of some assistance in keeping track of historical events and locations.

My principal source and main touchstone for this lecture (particularly with respect to the filtration of Western orientalist bias) is Professor Dr Mehmet Maksudoğlu’s seminal historical work, Osmanlı History and Institutions which has the uncommon distinction of being based upon Osmanlı sources. Therefore, it is appropriate that I should begin by reiterating the important caveats he has expressed regarding our use of terminology in any investigation of the Osmanlı phenomenon:

Proper names and nomenclature should not be changed, for every change involves distortion. There is therefore no reason whatsoever to distort “Osmanlı” into “Ottoman.” [n. p.xxiii]

1 Practically all historical works produced in English use the term “Ottoman Empire.” No such term or its equivalent (Imparatoriyye-yi Osmaniyye) has ever appeared in Osmanlı documents, official correspondence, treaties or in scholarly writings of the era. Rather, they refer to the “Sublime Osmanlı Devlet” (Devlet-i ‘Aliyye-yi Osmaniyye) or the “Splendid Devlet” (Devlet-i Seniyye). The term Devlet, which is derived from the Arabic Dawla, was used by the Osmanlis throughout the centuries of their sociopolitical existence.

Shaykh Dr Abdalqadir as-Sufi in Sultaniyya, his penetrating examination of the nature of Islamic governance, says the following:

The Islamic polity is called Dawla. The term appears only once in the Qur’an [Surat al-Hashr:7]. As always with the Divine revelation one word can have enormous impact and effect on the Muslim society. ...Dawla derives from the root dal-alif-lam and it means to change periodically, to take turns, to alternate and to rotate. It also means to make victorious and to let triumph. It also means to exchange, to circulate, to take counsel, to pass round. [pp.39-40]

It is beyond the immediate scope of the present lecture to explore the full implications of this word with respect to the role of authority, the distribution of welfare, the obligation of Jihad and the movement of wealth as they have manifested themselves in practice throughout Muslim history. However, let it suffice to say at this juncture that the dynamic of empire, with its motivations of racism, nationalism, linguistic imposition and mercantilistic exploitation, is entirely inappropriate to the Osmanlı sociopolitical structure and the accepted functions of the Muslim dawla as a vehicle for the establishment of justice on earth.

By the same token, the concept of the state is also inappropriate since state authority claims independence in its sovereignty and unlimited power to legislate, whereas the Islamic concept of dawla implies an instrument for the implementation of the Shari’ah.

2 The term Divan in English is taken to mean “Imperial Council” or expressions to this effect. Divan is derived from the Arabic diwan meaning a register or by extension the place where registers are kept. Under the Osmanlis these registers concerned administrative, military and fiscal affairs. ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab (ra) was the first to form an administration around the Diwan and this practice continued under the Umayyads, the Abbasids and the Seljuqs down to the Osmanlis who used the term “Heavenly Divan” (Divan-i Humayun) since they perceived themselves as responsible for implementing the ‘heavenly’ message of Islam.

3 The term Vezir [Ar. wazir] (whose root meaning in Arabic signifies responsibility and refers in the Qur’an to a helper, assistant or supporter) and cannot be translated as “minister.”

4 Finally, there is the concept of feth [Ar. fath]. This is often translated as “conquest.” This is misleading since while conquest implies the subjugation of a country by force, fath means an opening of it to the deen without any compulsion upon its people to embrace the Islam.

Origins of the Osmanlı Dawla

Osmanlı sources place the foundation of the Osmanlı Dawla in 688/1289 (as opposed to 1299 as often stated) when the Seljuq ruler Alaeddin ibn Feramurz, being without any male heirs, conferred on Osman Ghazi, whom he regarded as his heir, the menshur (decree of appointment), the drum, sword and flag. This gave him actual independence.

Before this we observe that the ancient Turks lived around the Altay mountains in Southern Siberia. They claimed their descent from Yafeth son of Prophet Nuh (as). A key heroic figure for them was Oğuz Han who readily accepted Islam and was said to be a contemporary of Ibrahim (as). The Turks also equate him with Dhul Qarnayn. Various tribes descended from his six sons. Those tribes that accepted Islam were thus called Turk-i Iman (Muslim Turks), hence the terms Turcoman and Turkmen. The first Turkish Dawla were the Karakhanids (840-1212) in Transoxania. They played a key role in spreading Islam in India and since these armies consisted of Arab, Persian and other ethnic groups, they spoke a pidgin language called Ordu, which in Turkish means ‘army’. The name for the language of Urdu as we know it today is said to derive from this word.

The Great Seljuq Dawla of Persia and Iraq (1038-1157) was founded by Muslim Turks descended from the tribes of Oğuz and it was these Seljuqs who opened Anatolia to Islam at the pivotal battle of Malazgirt (Manzikert) in Eastern Anatolia in 1071 when a Turkish army of 54,000 met and defeated a Christian army of 200,000. What were then to become the Anatolian Seljuqs (1081-1307) established their capital at Konya under their commander Suleyman ibn Qutulmish who was appointed ruler. Various additional territories were annexed from the Byzantines, by 1080 his possessions reached as far as the Marmara and Aegean. This branch of the Seljuqs became known as the Sultanate of Rum. By the end of the 10th century the Anatolian Seljuqs fought the first wave of Crusaders and by 1210 Seljuq domination of Anatolia over the Byzantines was complete.

When the Mongols invaded Eastern Anatolia the Seljuqs were decisively defeated in the Battle of Kosedagh in 1243 becoming tribute-paying vassals of the Mongols. Any remnant of Seljuq sovereignty over Anatolia came to an end with the death of their last Sultan, Ghiyath al-Din III in 1308, followed by direct Mongol domination. However, within less than 100 years the Mongols in Anatolia were overthrown and the a new political entity had begun to make its presence felt in the northwestern corner of Anatolia on the Byzantine frontier, these were the Osmanlis.

Having been driven by the Mongols into the far North-West, the warlike Turks organised themselves into independent principalities under ghazi leaders determined to open the beckoning Byzantine territories to Islam. Of the various Beys (chiefs) Osman Ghazi held territory furthest to the north and closest to Byzantium. In 1302 Osman Ghazi laid siege to Iznik (Nicaea). The Emperor (Andronikos II) sent an army of 2,000 against him which he ambushed and defeated, annexing Bursa and the surrounding territories. This victory over an imperial force enhanced his reputation and ghazis throughout Anatolia flocked to his standard and became known as Osmanlis. Over the following decade or so Osman Ghazi’s growing forces went on to open more lands to Islam until serious illness made it impossible for him to ride his horse.

Orhan Ghazi (1326-1362)

The son of Osman Ghazi took charge of the Osmanlı Dawla while his father was dying in 1326 during the opening of Bursa where he was buried. The sincere intention of the Ghazi Dawla and its founding principles are evident in Osman’s last testament to his son Orhan:

“If anyone advises you something that the Sublime Truth (Allah Ta’ala) has not ordered, do not accept it. Do not carry out anything which Allah (swt) has not ordered. Consult the ‘ulema of Shari’ah about matters you do not know.”

Orhan continued the push towards the Bosphorus and the Black Sea causing the Byzantine Emperor (Andronikos III) to cross the Bosphorus to meet him in battle in 1328. He was defeated and had to flee for his life. Iznik (Nicaea) surrendered in 1331 and became the new capital. Orhan transformed its cathedral into a mosque, converted a monastery into a madrassah and built an imaret. It is recorded that while the Osmanlis were besieging Iznik the Christian peasants of the countryside refused to provide food for their trapped brethren. Apparently, life in their villages under Osmanlı rule was so satisfactory that they shouted to those besieged in the castle that they would be better off surrendering to the Muslims. This explains the comparative ease with which large areas were opened to Islam in a short space of time.

When Orhan expressed to his son Suleyman Pasha the idea of crossing the Sea of Marmara in order to take the deen to the other side, he responded:

“If you order me, your humble servant, I will cross the sea by the grace of Allah, and the miraculous help of the Final Messenger. I will remove the darkness of disbelief in those areas and enlighten them by the light of Islam.”

The crossing was successful and ghazis poured into the newly acquired European territories. Orhan Ghazi was perhaps the greatest and richest of all the Turkmen Beys. The Huffaz were assigned allowances and very few people were in need of zakat.

Ghazi Sultan Murad I (1362-1389)

Under Sultan Murad the Osmanlis continued to acquire territory. Adrianople, the capital of Thrace was captured and further raids followed the usual pattern. The inhabitants of towns that submitted voluntarily were left unmolested; if they put up resistance they were forced to leave their town to the raiders. The Osmanlis would sometimes resort to the forcible deportation of Turks from Anatolia in order to settle newly acquired territory. Settlement quickly followed conquests in Thrace which provided a firm platform for further expansion into Europe. By 1385 Osmanlı expansion had reached the Albanian coast where, like Macedonia, local leaders accepted Osmanlı authority. Advances were also made against Thessaly with the port city of Salonica falling in 1387. During this period Serbia was reduced to vassalage as well as Bulgaria.

The first standing army in Europe, the Yenicheri ‘new troops’ (Janissaries) was formed during the reign of Murad I. In the time of Osman Ghazi every able bodied Muslim was regarded as a mujahid. However, rapid expansion soon necessitated a large regular army. Murad adopted a new method of recruitment called the devshirme whereby Christian children in newly conquered areas were taken and brought up in an Islamic environment and then, generally, placed in the Yenicheri. On the other hand, however, those exceptional enough to be educated in the palace schools were groomed for high office within the administrative apparatus.

During Murad’s reign the Osmanlı Dawla finally emerged as the major Muslim power. Hence, he was able to secure the official recognition of the nominal Abbasid Khalifa, then resident in Cairo, being conferred with the title of Sultan of Rum. The Dawla was recognised as the Osmaniyye and its people Osmanlı.

Murad was assassinated in 1389 towards the end of the first battle of Kosovo, having been stabbed with a hidden dagger by a Serbian noble, Milos Obilic, who approached Murad under the pretence that he was about to kiss his stirrup. Before he died he appointed his eldest son Bayezid as Han with the consent of the highest ranking dignitaries. By the time of his death Murad I had consolidated a Dawla made up of vassal principalities in Anatolia and the Balkans.

Sultan Bayezid Han I ‘Yildirim’ (1389-1402)

On hearing news of the assassination of Murad the local rulers in Anatolia rose in revolt. Hence, the early years of Bayezid’s reign were spent annexing most of the Anatolian principalities, appointing to their administration graduates of the devshirme brought up in his own palace. In the meantime, Osmanlı control over the Balkan principalities was on the decline, given their propensity to rebel at every opportunity. Hence, Bayezid was to pursue a policy of removing the old dynasties and converting each principality into a directly administered province.

By eliminating the kingdom of Bulgaria, the Osmanlis now became directly responsible for the defence of the lower Danube region against Hungary. The crusade of Nicopolis in 1396, led by the Hungarian king, marked the climax of this rivalry that ended in complete victory over the combined Christian forces who were attempting to free Constantinople which had been under siege for the previous 5 years. This victory confirmed Osmanlı control of the Balkans and raised their prestige in the Islamic world. Yildirim (the thunderbolt) had consolidated the Dawla, which extended from the Danube to the Euphrates, and the Sovereign of Egypt, who was host to the exiled Abbasid Khalifah, had addressed him as “Shadow of Allah in the East and West” and as Sultan of the Muslims.

At the same time, however, Timur (1336-1405) had emerged as a powerful rival in Turkestan and asserted claims to sovereignty over Anatolia. Bayezid challenged him arrogantly and was routed and taken prisoner at the battle of Ankara in 1402, eventually dying in grief. During the battle the Anatolian cavalry deserted and went over to the side of their former masters who had been displaced by Bayezid and had taken refuge in Timur’s court. Under Timur’s protection, they were all re-established in their former principalities, while the remaining territory was divided between Bayezid’s sons who accepted Timur’s sovereignty. The struggle for territory that ensued between 1402–1413 became known as the period of tumult which might easily have ended in the complete collapse of the Osmanlı Dawla.

Mehemmed I ‘Chelebi’ (1413-1421)

Mehemmed I’s reign was largely characterised by having to deal with the rebellious emirates and principalities (Beyliks) that had been restored by Timur. He was a determined and resolute man who succeeded in uniting the Dawla and restoring some stability. He fell ill and died in 1421 and was succeeded by his son Murad.

Sultan Murad II (1421-1451)

Murad II’s reign which began at the age of 17 commenced with three years of crisis which saw many of his father’s gains temporarily reversed in a continuation of the family rivalry that had characterised the previous generation. He had to defeat an uncle and a younger brother before order was restored. He then turned his attentions to the Balkans and the various threats from Hungary and Venice, showing aggression and negotiating treaties as circumstances required up until 1444, when he abdicated in favour of his young son Mehemmed. 

This requires some explanation. Sultan Murad II was not enamoured of power, he was a ghazi, an administrator and a devout sufi, widely held to be a wali, and was hoping to be able to spend the remainder of his days in peaceful ‘ibada and contemplation. However, it was not to be since the European powers saw it as an opportunity for war on the Osmanlis. Faced with such a crisis Sultan Mehemmed II (1444-46) had to call upon his father which resulted in the victorious battle of Varna (1444) where the combined Christian forces were defeated yet again. Murad managed to defeat yet another enormous Christian coalition in 1448 at the fierce second battle of Kosovo which lasted for two days and saw the Christians utterly routed. Murad fell ill and died in 1451 and was succeeded once again by his son Mehemmed.

Sultan Mehemmed II ‘Fatih’ (1451-1481)

Mehemmed II came back to the throne in 1451. He was highly erudite, speaking six languages and was a reasonably good poet. In addition, he had a solid political and military background, which was crowned by his bringing the Eastern Roman Empire to a close. The Musnad of Ahmad ibn Hanbal records a famous hadith, the meaning of which is:

“The Messenger of Allah (saws) said: The city of Constantine will certainly by opened to Islam; what a fine commander the one who opens it is, and what a fine army he has under his command.”

Sultan Mehemmed was determined to fulfil this prophecy, although Constantinople had over the decades already successfully resisted a number of previous attempts by the Muslims to defeat its considerable defences. Therefore, Sultan Mehemmed planned his assault in great detail and made extensive preparations. His siege of Constantinople began on Friday, 6th April 1453 and the army made its first attack on 18th April, which was pushed back. A few nights later, as heavy chain had been deployed across the mouth of the gulf preventing entry by that route, the Osmanlis slid seventy ships on a wooden slipway overland and into the Golden Horn in order to be able to attack the city’s relatively vulnerable side. Such a move was a shock to the morale of the Byzantine defenders and they sued for a peace treaty, which the Sultan flatly rejected, famously announcing, “Either I take Constantinople or it takes me.”

However, subsequent attempts by the army were stubbornly repelled and the siege, which was now dragging on, had begun to affect the morale of the troops. Furthermore, threats of an impending attack by a huge Hungarian led army forced the question of whether or not to raise the siege. However, the twenty-one year old Sultan, on the advice of his spiritual master, Sheykh Aqshemsuddin, decided against this and attacked just after the subh prayer on Tuesday 29th May and succeeded in entering the city. The siege had lasted 53 days. 

The great Sahabi, Abu Ayyub al Ansari (ra) was known to be buried somewhere outside the city walls but the exact location was unknown. Sultan Mehemmed asked Sheykh Aqshemsuddin if he could identify its position by the gift of ‘inner sight’, which he did. Mehemmed had a beautiful mosque erected over the tomb and the entire district is still known as Eyüp (Ar. Ayyub). With this victory the Sultan earned the title of ‘Fatih’ and effective leadership over the Muslim world.

Two months after the capture of Constantinople there was another victory over an Albanian-Italian alliance at Berat in Albania. The next significant achievement was the opening of Serbia to Islam which began in 1457 with an invasion of the Mora (Peloponnese) Peninsula and annexation was complete by 1459. With respect to the unification of Anatolia itself under Muslim rule, Mehemmed  defeated the last Eastern Roman Emperor David Comnenos at Trebizond in 1461. Bosnia was annexed to the Dawla in 1463 accompanied by mass conversions to Islam, which was soon followed by Hercegovina. For many years battles, reversals and intrigues continued with the Kingdom of Naples, the powerful Republic of Venice and the Hungarians, who all made use of the  apostate, Iskander Beğ (George Kastriota) in their campaigns against the Muslims for control of Albania. However, by 1479 Sultan Fatih had gained the upper hand over Venice and Albania was opened to Islam. He then turned towards southern Italy and entered Otranto in the same year.

Sultan Fatih died suddenly in 1481 at the age of  fifty-one while preparing another major military expedition whose ultimate destination he had kept concealed. The full extent of Mehemmed II’s contributions cannot be adequately reflected in this short summary, however, Professor Maksudoğlu offers the following assessment:

“The Osmanlı Devlet, in my opinion, was not established firmly and for good until annexing Istanbul; it is true that it had become a powerful socio-political entity, but it was vulnerable from the very centre of itself through the intrigues designed by the Roman Empire inciting the European powers as well as the Anatolian begliks against it… It became possible for the Osmanlı Devlet to become ‘the’ Super Power only after [the] opening of Constantinople to Islam. Therefore, the period until the opening of Istanbul to Islam may be regarded as ‘the foundation’ of the Sublime Osmanlı Devlet.” [Osmanlı History and Institutions pp. 204-5]

This firm foundation provided the platform upon which the subsequent period of major expansion, that reaches its apogee with Suleyman the Magnificent, is made possible. 

Sultan Bayezid II ‘Veli’ (1481-1512)

Sultan Fatih was succeeded in 1481 by his eldest son, Bayezid. However, his authority was opposed by his younger brother, Jem (1459-1495). Although Bayezid defeated Jem in a full pitch battle resulting in the latter taking refuge with the Mamluk Sultan in Egypt, it eventually led to a fourteen year period during which Jem, for the remainder of his life, is used as a pawn by various powers, principally the Grand Master of Rhodes , the King of France Charles VIII and the Pope, to hamper, threaten and extort money from the Osmanlı Sultan. Taking advantage of these distractions the King of Boğdan on the western shore of the Black Sea invaded Osmanlı territory. Bayezid responded by annexing the region in 1484, opening the entire north-western shore area of the Black Sea to Islam. After the death of Jem it became easier for the Osmanlis to resume normal operations in Europe and they began by completing the opening of the entire Mora Peninsula to Islam in 1502. 

It is also interesting to note that during these years Andalusia was in the process of being overrun by the Christians. Access to Spain overland would have been impossible for the Osmanlis and their navy was not to achieve superiority until well into the 1500’s (1538 after the battle of Preveza) long after the fall of Granada in 1492. Nevertheless, Bayezid in response to an appeal from Granada dispatched a fleet to harry the Spanish coast and to ferry refugees to North Africa both before and after the fall of Granada.

During the reign of Bayezid II, the Safavid Shah Isma’il (r. 1502-1524) had commenced an active campaign to spread Shi’ism in Anatolia, but the Osmanlı Sultan was now ageing and considering abdication in favour of his elder son, Ahmed, who was known for having a benign and generous character. However, Ahmed’s failure in 1511 to properly suppress an uprising in western Anatolia instigated by Shah Isma’il, confirmed the army’s preference for his younger brother, the very able Selim.

Sultan Selim ‘Yavuz’ Han (1512-1520)

After handing over power to his son Selim in 1512, Sultan Bayezid immediately departed on a journey during which he died. The new Sultan’s first order of business was to put paid to the ambitions of his two brothers, Ahmed and Qorqut, whose executions he engineered by luring them into a trap when they responded to forged letters from credible figures inviting them to Istanbul to take up the rulership. The next priority was to deal with the Shi’a threat from Shah Isma’il, which he did finally in August 1514 at the battle of Chaldiran where the Safavids were routed. Selim entered their capital Tabriz and the khutbah was given there in his name. In 1516 he went on to confront the Mamluk Sultan, who had entered into an alliance with Iran. The Osmanlis defeated the Mamluks in battle near Aleppo; the Mamluk Sultan (Qansu Ghawri) was killed and Syria and Palestine were annexed. Selim then directed his attentions towards the Mamluks in Egypt. The decisive battle took place on 22nd January 1517. Selim was victorious, eventually entering Cairo on 15th February 1517. The Sharif of Mecca and Madina (Abu’l Barakat ibn Muhammad al-Hasani) sent his son with the keys of the holy places to Sultan Selim as a token of allegiance and loyalty, Selim confirmed his position and appointed two leading qadis to the Haramayn. Thus, with the Hijaz also peacefully annexed to the Osmanlı Dawla, there was complete unity in the heartlands of Islam combining all the spiritual, temporal and functional aspects of the deen and there was no dispute at this point that the Osmanlı Dawla now represented the Khilafah of the Ummah, and that as its head, Sultan Selim was the Khalifah. It was also he who appointed forty huffaz to undertake the perpetual recitation of the Qur’an in the room containing the Messenger of Allah’s relics (saws) and was known to have participated in person. This practice continued until the end of the Osmanlı Dawla.

Sultan Selim fell ill and died peacefully while reciting Surah Ya Sin on his deathbed in September 1520.

‘Kanuni’ Sultan Suleyman I ‘The Magnificent’ (1520-1566)

To recap briefly, the hundred years or so between Sultan Fatih and Sultan Suleyman which span the period of consolidation and expansion of the Osmanlı Dawla, bear witness to the great era of success heralded by the opening of Constantinople by Sultan Fatih in 1453 and culminating in the reign of ‘Kanuni’ Sultan Suleyman under whose governance the Osmanlı Dawla reaches its zenith as a world super power, but in which he also plants the seeds of its decline.

The greatest area of expansion was to the east and south: Azerbaijan (1514), Syria and Palestine (1516), Egypt (1517) soon to be followed by Mecca and Madina and the Yemen. These were followed by Iraq (1534). These acquisitions protected Muslim trade and pilgrimage routes. Expansion to the east was occasioned by the rise of the Safavid Shi’as who were beginning to threaten eastern Anatolia. This threat was neutralised by the victory of Selim I over Shah Ismail at Chaldiran (1514). 

Following the death of Sultan Selim, Suleyman was summoned to Istanbul to take up the succession. After his father’s successful campaigns, Sultan Suleyman returned towards Europe, capturing Belgrade (1521). He then went on to destroy the Hungarian army at Mohacs (1526) which was followed by the siege of Vienna in 1529. With the Black Sea already under their control since the opening of Constantinople, the Osmanlis now dominated the Aegean after taking control of Rhodes in 1522. At the same time they annexed the North African coast as far as Morocco. The key figure in this Mediterranean campaign was Khayruddin Pasha (Barbarossa). With their annexation of Cyprus (1570) they consolidated their hold on the eastern Mediterranean.

By the time of Suleyman I Osmanlı political and administrative institutions had acquired their classical form, so it is ironic that it was Suleyman himself whose departure from the traditional method of appointing the Grand Vezir (Sadrazam or Vezir-i A’zam) in the case of  the sudden promotion of his close favourite and companion Ibrahim Pasha, that was so detrimental to the structure of the Dawla, heralding the period of decline that was to begin after his reign. Maksudoğlu concludes:

“Towards the end of his sultanate, he invested all of the important affairs of the Devlet in Sadrazam (Vezir-I A’zam) Rüstem Pasha (1555-1561). His successor, Selim II, confirmed Soqollu Mehmed Pasha (1565-1579) as Sadrazam and gave him a free hand. But with the death of Soqollu, the manner and procedure of appointment to this post changed greatly. Vezirs competed for the post through the presentation of precious gifts to the Sultan, his family, and his close friends. This led to intrigues, instability and discontinuity that was detrimental to the Devlet. The deviation of Suleyman the Magnificent from the traditional method for appointing vezir-i a’zam was of particular harm to the structure of the Devlet.” [ibid. p. 296]

That brings us to the end of today’s lecture. For further reading on the ground covered today I would recommend Maksudoğlu: Part I (pp. 3-205); Part II (pp. 209-296). For access to details pertaining to the dynastic inner workings and wider questions of historical controversy over the same period I suggest Akgündüz and Öztürk: Part I (pp. 25-198). For preparatory reading I would recommend Maksudoğlu Part II (pp. 297-349); and Part III (pp. 353-444) and Akgündüz and Öztürk: Part I (pp. 198-319). Thank you for your attention. 

Assalamu alaykum.

Bibliographical References

Akgündüz, A. and Öztürk, S. Ottoman History: Misperceptions and Truths. Rotterdam: IUR Press, 2011. (http://iurpress.nl/component/virtuemart/?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=25&category_id=7&keyword=ottoman+history)

As-Sufi, Shaykh Abdalqadir (Ian Dallas). Sultaniyya. Cape Town: Madinah Press, 2002

Maksudoğlu, Mehmet. Osmanlı History and Institutions. Istanbul: Ensar, 2011