Murad III (Ottoman Turkish: مراد ثالث, romanized: Murād-i sālis; Turkish: III. Murad; 4 July 1546 – 16 January 1595) was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1574 until his death in 1595.
His rule saw battles with the Habsburgs and exhausting wars with the Safavids. The long-independent Morocco was for a time made a vassal of the empire but regained independence in 1582. His reign saw the empire's expanding influence on the eastern coast of Africa. However, the empire was beset by increasing corruption and inflation from the New World which led to unrest among the Janissary and commoners. Relations with Elizabethan England were cemented during his reign, as both had a common enemy in the Spanish Empire. He was also a great patron of the arts, commissioning the Siyer-i-Nebi and other illustrated manuscripts.
Murad was born in Manisa on 4 July 1546 to Şehzade Selim and his powerful consort, Nurbanu Sultan. He was the grandson of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent and his wife, Haseki Hürrem Sultan.
Murad received a comprehensive education and learned both Arabic and Persian. Following his ceremonial circumcision in 1557, Suleiman I, appointed him sancakbeyi (governor) of Akşehir in 1558. The same year, his grandmother, Hürrem Sultan, died when he was almost 12 years old. In 1564, at the age of 18, Murad was appointed sancakbeyi of Saruhan, with Manisa as his seat.
Murad's grandfather, Suleiman I, died in 1566 when Murad was 20 years old, and his father, Selim, succeeded to the throne as Sultan Selim II. Murad remained in Manisa throughout his father's reign, continuing his education under the tutelage of the renowned historian and scholar Hoca Sadeddin Efendi.
Contemporary accounts described Murad during his years in Manisa as a highly educated, talented, and deeply religious prince who was greatly beloved by his father.
Murad succeeded his father Sultan Selim II upon his death in December 1574 as Sultan Murad III. At the beginning of his reign, Murad ordered the execution of his five younger brothers, having them strangled in accordance with the Ottoman practice of dynastic fratricide.
Murad's authority was increasingly influenced by the imperial harem, particularly by his mother, Nurbanu Sultan, and later by his favorite consort, Safiye Sultan. Their influence over the sultan and the court often came at the expense of political influence of the Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire Sokollu Mehmed Pasha. Sokollu had played a crucial role in maintaining the stability and power of the Ottoman government during the reign of Selim II and continued to serve as Grand Vizier under Murad III until assassination in October 1579.
Murad's reign was marked by prolonged and costly wars on both the western and eastern fronts of the empire. Along the northern frontier, Ottoman forces defended their territories against the Habsburg monarchy, with the Bosnian governor Hasan Predojević playing an important role in fighting. The empire also suffered several military setbacks, most notably the defeat at the Battle of Sisak in June 1593.
During his exile, Abd al-Malik became a trusted member of the Ottoman establishment. He proposed making Morocco an Ottoman vassal in exchange for the support of Sultan Murad III in helping him reclaim the Saadi throne.
In 1576, Abd al-Malik and Ramazan Pasha departed from Algiers with an army of approximately 10,000 men, most of them Ottoman Turks, to restore Abd al-Malik to the Moroccan throne. Ramazan Pashas forces captured Fez, forcing the reigning Saadi Sultan to flee to Marrakesh. The Ottoman-backed army subsequently captured Marrakesh as well, and Abd al-Malik was installed as Sultan of Marocco as an Ottoman client ruler
Abd al-Malik made a deal with the Ottoman troops by paying them a large amount of gold and sending them back to Algiers, suggesting a looser concept of vassalage than Murad III may have thought. Murad's name was recited in the Friday prayer and stamped on coinage marking the two traditional signs of sovereignty in the Islamic world. The reign of Abd al-Malik is understood to be a period of Moroccan vassalage to the Ottoman Empire. Abd al-Malik died in 1578 and was succeeded by his brother Ahmad al-Mansur who formally recognised the suzerainty of the Ottoman Sultan at the start of his reign while remaining de facto independent. He stopped minting coins in Murad's name, dropped his name from the Khutba and declared his full independence in 1582.
The Ottomans had been at peace with the neighbouring rival Safavid Empire since 1555, per the Treaty of Amasya, that for some time had settled border disputes. But in 1577 Murad declared war, starting the Ottoman–Safavid War (1578–1590), seeking to take advantage of the chaos in the Safavid court after the death of Shah Tahmasp I. Murad was influenced by viziers Lala Kara Mustafa Pasha and Sinan Pasha and disregarded the opposing counsel of Grand Vizier Sokollu. Murad's war with the Safavids would drag on for 12 years, ending with the Treaty of Constantinople (1590), which resulted in temporary significant territorial gains for the Ottomans.
Ottoman activity in the Horn of Africa
During his reign, an Ottoman Admiral by the name of Mir Ali Beg was successful in establishing Ottoman supremacy in numerous cities in the Swahili coast between Mogadishu and Kilwa. Ottoman suzerainty was recognised in Mogadishu in 1585 and Ottoman supremacy was also established in other cities such as Barawa, Mombasa, Kilifi, Pate, Lamu, and Faza.
Murad's reign was a time of financial stress for the Ottoman state. To keep up with changing military techniques, the Ottomans trained infantrymen in the use of firearms, paying them directly from the treasury. By 1580 an influx of silver from the New World had caused high inflation and social unrest, especially among Janissaries and government officials who were paid in debased currency. Deprivation from the resulting rebellions, coupled with the pressure of over-population, was especially felt in Anatolia. Competition for positions within the government grew fierce, leading to bribery and corruption. Ottoman and Habsburg sources accuse Murad himself of accepting enormous bribes, including 20,000 ducats from a statesman in exchange for the governorship of Tripoli and Tunisia, thus outbidding a rival who had tried bribing the Grand Vizier.
During his period, excessive inflation was experienced, the value of silver money was constantly played, food prices increased. 400 dirhams should be cut from 600 dirhams of silver, while 800 was cut, which meant 100 percent inflation. For the same reason, the purchasing power of wage earners was halved, and the consequence was an uprising.
Numerous envoys and letters were exchanged between Elizabeth I and Sultan Murad III. In one correspondence, Murad entertained the notion that Islam and Protestantism had "much more in common than either did with Roman Catholicism, as both rejected the worship of idols", and argued for an alliance between England and the Ottoman Empire. To the dismay of Catholic Europe, England exported tin and lead (for cannon-casting) and ammunition to the Ottoman Empire, and Elizabeth seriously discussed joint military operations with Murad III during the outbreak of war with Spain in 1585, as Francis Walsingham was lobbying for a direct Ottoman military involvement against the common Spanish enemy. This diplomacy would be continued under Murad's successor Mehmed III, by both the sultan and Safiye Sultan alike.