Selim

in the Ottoman Empire:

Selim I the Grim (Yavuz). Born 1467/68 or 1470/71; died Sept. 20, 1520, in Istanbul. Sultan from 1512.

Selim I continued his predecessors’ policy of conquest. Opposing Safavid Iran under the banner of defying Shiism, he brutally massacred Shiites in Anatolia. In 1514 he routed the army of Shah Ismail I at Chaldiran and seized western Armenia, Kurdistan, and other lands. In 1515 he completed the conquest of eastern Anatolia and Armenia, and in 1516 he overran northern Iraq, Syria, and Palestine. In 1517 he conquered Egypt; thenceforth the holy Muslim cities of Mecca and Medina recognized the primacy of the Ottoman sultans. Selim assumed the title of caliph, which significantly raised the authority of the Ottoman sultans in the Islamic world. In 1519 he suppressed an uprising of the Jelali.

Selim III is known for his reform efforts aimed at saving the Ottoman Empire from crisis at home and abroad. By his order, a few secular and religious notables outlined and in part carried out a program of reforms—the Nizam-i cedid. However, when feudal reaction opposed the reforms and janissary disturbances broke out, Selim lacked the courage to support his confederates. On May 29, 1807, he was removed from the throne; a year later he was killed.