Selim I., Sultan of Turkey, son of Bajazet II., was born in 1467, and dethroned his father by the aid of the Janizaries, 25th April 1512. Then he caused his father, brothers, and nephews to be put to death. This gives the key to his character—warlike, energetic, unscrupulous, and fanatical. In 1514, after massacring 40,000 Shiites, he declared war against Shah Ismail of Persia, whom he defeated at Chaldiran in the neighbourhood of Tabriz; but a spirit of disaffection breaking out in his army, he was compelled to content himself with this success, which gave him possession of the provinces of Diarbekir and Kurdistan. In 1517 he conquered the Mameluke rulers of Egypt, and annexed that country, Syria, and the Hejaz. Moreover he won from the Abbaside calif, then living as a spiritual prince at Cairo, the headship of the Mohammedan world, the title of imam, and the standard of the
Prophet, and gained possession of the sacred cities of Mecca and Medina. He also laid the foundation of a regular marine, constructed the arsenal of Pera, chastised the insolence of the Janizaries with savage severity, and laboured to ameliorate, by improved institutions, the condition of the various peoples he had conquered. He died 22d September 1520, while planning an expedition against Rhodes. Strange to say, this savage fanatic was a lover of literature, and even himself cultivated the poetic art. He was succeeded by his son, Soliman (q.v.) the Magnificent. For other sultans named Selim, see TURKEY.