Sultans selected wives (as opposed to concubines) with political goals in mind. They often married Byzantine noblewomen in order to cement alliances with Byzantine rulers.

The diagram on the left shows the names of the sultans in rectangles and the ethnicity of the wife who was the mother of the successor in ellipses. The line under the name of each sultan depicts the mixture of his ancestry. Details are provided below.

Orhan I (reigned 1324-1362) married Theodora, daughter of emperor John VI Cantacuzene in 1346. Earlier (in 1299) he had married a Byzantine noblewoman Helen who, upon converting to Islam, changed her name to Nulifer and was the mother of Murad I (reigned 1362-1389) and when he became sultan, she became the Valide Sultana. This makes Murad I half Greek. (See handout No. 9 for his portrait.) He also married a Greek woman (Gulcicek) who was the mother of the next sultan Bayezid I (1389-1402).

The mother of Mehmet I (reigned 1413-1421) was a convert to Islam most likely of Greek origin. The mother of the next sultan, Murad II (1421-1451) was also Turkish. We are not sure about the ethnicity of Mehmed's II (1451-1481) mother. Most likely she was Serbian. The next sultan Bayezid II was Mehmed's son by a Greek woman, Gulbahar. Suleyman I was the first sultan to marry a woman that started as a concubine, the famous Roxelana.

Main source: H. W. Lowry The Nature of the Early Ottoman State, SUNY Press, 2003, pp. 153-154.

Successes

Conquest of Syria and Egypt by Selim I (1517). Empire now has a Muslim population majority.

Conquest of Hungary (and surrounding areas in Central Europe), Iraq, and Libya by Suleyman I (1520-1566) but failure to capture Vienna(1529).

Setbacks

Ban of the Printing Press (1485)

Safavid dynasty makes Shi'a the official religion in Persia to oppose Sunni Ottomans (circa 1510)

Defeat in the Naval Battle of Lepanto (1571)

1568: Sons of Janissaries can join the corps. Within a few decades the nature of Janissaries has changed and they prove to be a source of trouble.

1574: Upon becoming sultan Murad III has all his younger nine brothers killed.

Sequence of weak sultans leave the ruling of the empire to the Harem (and the black eunuchs)
  1622: Sultan Osman II assassinated by Janissaries.
  1648 Sultan Ibrahim I strangled (coup led by Grand Mufti).

Firearms increased the importance of infantry over cavalry (the strength of the Asian people)

Long war with Venice (1648-1669). Ottomans captured Crete.

1683: Failure of the Second Siege of Vienna (Ottomans led by Grand Vizier Merzifonlu Kara Mustafa pasha) - As a consequence, loss of Hungary (1699) - Treaty of Karlowitz.

1730: Sultan Ahmet III deposed by Janissaries.

1783: Loss of Crimea to Russia. Black Sea no longer an Ottoman lake,

1787-1792: New war and more losses to Russia - Treaty of Jassy.

1789-1807: Reign of Selim III and attempts at reform. Failure of the reforms of the "New Order" and assassination of the sultan.