İslâm III Giray (; 1604 – 10 July 1654) was khan of the

Crimean Khanate The Crimean Khanate, self-defined as the Throne of Crimea and Desht-i Kipchak, and in old European historiography and geography known as Little Tartary, was a Crimean Tatars, Crimean Tatar state existing from 1441 to 1783, the longest-lived of th ...

for ten years (1644–1654), interrupting the reign of his brother

Mehmed IV Giray Mehmed IV Giray the Sufi Crimean Tatar, Ottoman Turkish and (1610–1674), was khan of the Crimean Khanate in 1641–1644 and 1654–1666. His two reigns were interrupted by that of his brother İslâm III Giray. His first reign was uneventful, ...

. He was khan during the

Khmelnytsky uprising The Khmelnytsky Uprising, also known as the Cossack–Polish War, Khmelnytsky insurrection, or the National Liberation War, was a Cossack uprisings, Cossack rebellion that took place between 1648 and 1657 in the eastern territories of the Poli ...

of the Cossacks against Poland.

Ancestors and early life

He was one of the many sons of khan Selyamet I (1608–10), three of whom were khans and four of whom were fathers of khans. See Selâmet I Giray#His sons. He was preceded and followed by his younger brother Mehmed IV. None of his sons were khans. Subsequent khans were mostly descended from his brother Bahadir. During the second reign of

Canibek Giray Canibek Giray Crimean Tatar, Ottoman Turkish and (1568–1636, reigned 1610–23, 1628–1635) was twice khan of the Crimean Khanate. During his first reign he fought for the Turks in Persia and Poland. He proved a poor commander and had diffic ...

(1628–1635) he was a captive in Poland circa 1629–1632 Under Bahadır I Giray (1637–41) he served as kalga. In 1637 or 1638 he led the

Budjak Horde The Budjak Horde, also known as the Belgorod or Bilhorod Horde, formed part of the Nogai Horde in the 17th and 18th centuries. It settled in the northern Black Sea coast area under protectorate of the Crimean Khanate and the Ottoman Empire's S ...

back to Crimea. In the winter of 1639–40 he captured 8000 Ukrainian slaves for the Turkish galleys. In 1641 Bahadir was followed by his and İslâm's brother

Mehmed IV Mehmed IV (; ; 2 January 1642 – 6 January 1693), nicknamed as Mehmed the Hunter (), was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1648 to 1687. He came to the throne at the age of six after his father was overthrown in a coup. Mehmed went on to b ...

even though İslâm was older. İslâm went to Turkey and settled at a place called Sultania on the western side of the Dardanelles.

Reign

In 1644 the Ottoman Sultan dismissed İslâm's brother Mehmed IV and placed İslâm on the throne. İslâm appointed his younger brother Kyrym as kalga. As nureddin he continued Gazi, the son of his brother Mubarak. In 1651 Kyrym was killed at the

Battle of Berestechko The Battle of Berestechko (Ukrainian language, Ukrainian: Битва під Берестечком, Polish language, Polish: ''Bitwa pod Beresteczkiem''; 28 June – 10 July 1651) was fought between the Cossack Hetmanate and Crimean Khanate ag ...

and was replaced by Gazi, the new nureddin being İslâm's younger brother Adil. Kyrym, Mubarak and Adil were all fathers of khans. İslâm is remembered as a builder and successful administrator. He tended to appoint non-nobles without antagonizing the clan leaders. For the Ukrainian rebellion see below. In 1654 he died of natural causes.

Khmelnytsky Uprising

The

Khmelnytsky Uprising The Khmelnytsky Uprising, also known as the Cossack–Polish War, Khmelnytsky insurrection, or the National Liberation War, was a Cossack uprisings, Cossack rebellion that took place between 1648 and 1657 in the eastern territories of the Poli ...

of the

Zaporozhian Cossacks The Zaporozhian Cossacks (in Latin ''Cossacorum Zaporoviensis''), also known as the Zaporozhian Cossack Army or the Zaporozhian Host (), were Cossacks who lived beyond (that is, downstream from) the Dnieper Rapids. Along with Registered Cossa ...

against Poland started in January 1648 when Khmelnytsky became hetman of the Cossacks. In March Khmelnytski went to Crimea and made an anti-Polish alliance. This gave him extra cavalry, mainly under Togay Bey. The Poles tried, with occasional success, to split the alliance. Crimean horsemen accompanied Khmelnytsky on this 1648 campaign when he got almost as far as

Lviv Lviv ( or ; ; ; see #Names and symbols, below for other names) is the largest city in western Ukraine, as well as the List of cities in Ukraine, fifth-largest city in Ukraine, with a population of It serves as the administrative centre of ...

. Next year İslâm helped win the Battle of Zboriv (1649). The withdrawing Tatars were permitted to ravage the country they passed through. Some claim that İslâm was bribed by the Poles and that he ravaged mostly Cossack territory. In 1651 the Poles sent a large army and won the Battle of Beresteczko because the Tatars fled the field. Khmelnytsky went after them and was held hostage for a while by İslâm. In 1652, following the Battle of Batih, the Cossacks purchased the Polish prisoners from the Tatars and slaughtered them. Howorth says that in 1653 İslâm ravaged the country around Bar and Kaminetz and left after receiving a ransom.Howorth (1880), p551, following von Hammer (1856), needs a more modern source. Other sources have İslâm present at the Battle of Zhvanets at about the same time. In January 1654, by the

Treaty of Pereyaslav The Pereiaslav Agreement or Pereyaslav AgreementPereyaslav Agreement

, the Cossacks accepted Russian supremacy, thereby provoking the

Russo-Polish War (1654–1667) Armed conflicts between Poland (including the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland) and Russia (including the Soviet Union, the Russian Empire, the Tsardom of Russia and the Principality of Moscow) include: : : ...

. İslâm died shortly after.

Source and footnotes

*Henry Hoyle Howorth, History of the Mongols, 1880 (sic), Part 2, pp 547–552. ''Very old and possibly inaccurate in places.'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Islam III Giray 1604 births 1654 deaths People from Bakhchysarai 17th-century Crimean khans