During the Dark ages, there was a great ebb and flow of powerful kingdoms which rose and fell, left their mark on history and returned to obscurity. When the nomadic tribes throughout Asia coalesced in the 10th century A.D. they formed an Empire and called themselves the Seljuk Turks. Their Empire spread from Asia and into Anatolia, gradually infiltrating towards the Bosphorus. There is no doubt that they would have reached Constantinople but for the emergence of a new threat in the form of the Mongols. The Seljuk Turks fought back Genghis Khan and his successors for many years but the Empire gradually disintegrated into a scattering of tribes and in many ways they were right back where they had started.

Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror painted in 1481 by Gentile Bellini

The Law of Succession was unknown to the Ottoman Sultans and the eldest son held no claim to the throne on the death of a Sultan. The Turks believed that the successor was chosen by God but the reality was that the Sultanate was up for grabs and if the dying Sultan did not name his successor then the throne was either seized by force or as in many instances, the Janissaries chose their new Lord. When Mehmed died his successor was his son Bayazid the Second who had 5 sons. One of these sons, Selim, was so anxious to inherit the throne that he fought his father while he was still Sultan.

Unfortunately for those who served him, his unforgiving and cruel nature not only extended to his enemies but also to his officials who displeased him in any way and it was this more than anything else that caused him to be called Selim the Grim. Army officers were executed if they were deemed to have failed in any way and of his Grand Viziers no less than seven were beheaded for alleged dereliction of duty. Selim set his standards extremely high and the phrase "May you become Selim's Vizier" came into common usage as an alternative to "Drop Dead". He was preparing an attack on Rhodes when he died in 1520 at the age of fifty four and the accession of Suleiman took place the same year.

With a father named Selim the Grim the subjects of the new Sultan may well have approached his coming to the throne with trepidation but the truth was that Suleiman rarely saw his father who was with the army for most of his life. Suleiman's mother Hafiza Khatoun was his greatest influence and the people and the army must have heaved a collective sigh of relief at his first acts upon his accession. He freed 600 Egyptian prisoners and distributed the by now obligatory gifts of money to the Janissaries and he marked out for execution several officials in his armed forces. It was this combination of generosity and firmness which was to be apparent throughout his long reign. Another was to be his implacable struggle against Christianity wherever he sought it out.

In 1522 Suleiman had built this mosque in honour of his father.