22. The Day the Ottoman Empire Wept
Mehmed II’s successors usually heeded his advice to maintain the realm’s stability by preemptively executing their brothers as soon as they ascended the throne. It was a cruel expedient, but it worked. For the next two centuries, the Ottoman Empire was remarkably stable and free of infighting and civil wars when compared to its contemporaries. However, although the system worked, many consciences were bothered by the extermination of innocent royal siblings at the start of each reign. Those misgivings reached a peak when Sultan Mehmed III (reigned 1595 – 1603) inaugurated his reign by strangling to death his nineteen brothers, some of them mere infants. It was said that “the Empire wept” as a long line of child-sized coffins exited the palace in a grand procession the next day.
Eventually, a reaction set in against the brutal tradition of fratricide, and a new tradition took its place. Instead of new sultans disposing of their brothers when they ascended the throne, they simply locked them up. Thus was born the system of the Ottoman Kafes, or “Cage”, whereby Sultans set up a secluded part of their royal Harem as a detention center for their brothers. There, potential rivals were kept under house arrest, under surveillance by palace guards and isolated from the outside world to prevent intrigues and plots. Life in the Kafes could be rough, but for those living in it, the very fact that they were still living at all meant that it beat the alternative.
