Şehzade Kasım (

Ottoman Turkish Ottoman Turkish (, ; ) was the standardized register of the Turkish language in the Ottoman Empire (14th to 20th centuries CE). It borrowed extensively, in all aspects, from Arabic and Persian. It was written in the Ottoman Turkish alphabet. ...

: شهزاده قاسم; 1614 – 17 February 1638) was an Ottoman prince and the son of Sultan

Ahmed I Ahmed I ( '; ; 18 April 1590 – 22 November 1617) was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1603 to 1617. Ahmed's reign is noteworthy for marking the first breach in the Ottoman tradition of royal fratricide; henceforth, Ottoman rulers would no ...

and his Haseki

Kösem Sultan Kösem Sultan (; 1589 – 2 September 1651), also known as Mahpeyker Sultan (;), was the Haseki sultan, Haseki Sultan as the chief consort and legal wife of the List of sultans of the Ottoman Empire, Ottoman Sultan Ahmed I, Valide sultan, Vali ...

. He was the brother of

Murad IV Murad IV (, ''Murād-ı Rābiʿ''; , 27 July 1612 – 8 February 1640) was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1623 to 1640, known both for restoring the authority of the state and for the brutality of his methods. Murad I ...

and Ibrahim, and half-brother of

Osman II Osman II ( ''‘Osmān-i sānī''; ; 3 November 1604 – 20 May 1622), also known as Osman the Young (), was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 26 February 1618 until his regicide on 20 May 1622. Early life Osman II was born at Topkapı Pa ...

Life

Şehzade Kasım was born in 1614 in

Topkapı Palace The Topkapı Palace (; ), or the Seraglio, is a large museum and library in the east of the Fatih List of districts of Istanbul, district of Istanbul in Turkey. From the 1460s to the completion of Dolmabahçe Palace in 1856, it served as the ad ...

and

. Following his father’s early death in 1617, he, along with his mother and brothers, were banished to the Old Palace (Eski Sarayı). After

Murad Murad or Mourad () is an Arabic name. It is also common in Armenian, Azerbaijani, Bengali, Turkish, Persian, and Berber as a male given name or surname and is commonly used throughout the Muslim world and Middle East. Etymology It is derived ...

’s accession in 1623, Kasım was confined in the Kafes, which was the part of the

Imperial Harem The Imperial Harem () of the Ottoman Empire was the Ottoman sultan's harem – composed of the concubines, wives, servants (both female slaves and eunuchs), female relatives and the sultan's concubines – occupying a secluded portion (serag ...

where possible successors to the

throne A throne is the seat of state of a potentate or dignitary, especially the seat occupied by a sovereign (or viceroy A viceroy () is an official who reigns over a polity in the name of and as the representative of the monarch of the territory ...

were kept under a form of house-arrest and constant

surveillance Surveillance is the monitoring of behavior, many activities, or information for the purpose of information gathering, influencing, managing, or directing. This can include observation from a distance by means of electronic equipment, such as ...

by the palace

eunuchs A eunuch ( , ) is a male who has been castration, castrated. Throughout history, castration often served a specific social function. The earliest records for intentional castration to produce eunuchs are from the Sumerian city of Lagash in the 2 ...

Efforts to save Ibrahim from execution

According to the Turkish historian Necdet Sakaoğlu, during

’s chaotic reign, Kasım hid and protected his younger brother, Ibrahim, in secret parts of the palace by portraying him as innocent and incompetent.

Death

During the celebrations of the Ottoman victory at

Erivan Yerevan ( , , ; ; sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia, as well as one of the world's List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerev ...

in 1635, his brothers Bayezid, Selim and Süleyman were executed, leaving Kasım as the heir apparent to the Ottoman throne. On 17 February 1638, Kasım was terrified of arousing any suspicion that he had designs on the throne. Thus he was all humility when he presented himself before

to pay his respects and wish him success on his expedition to reconquer Baghdad.

accepted Kasım’s wishes, and then on that same day,

ordered his execution. He was buried in

Murad III Murad III (; ; 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 Habsburg monarchy, Habsburgs and exhausting wars with the Safavid Iran, Safavids. The long-inde ...

türbe ''Türbe'' refers to a Muslim mausoleum, tomb or grave often in the Turkish-speaking areas and for the mausolea of Ottoman sultans, nobles and notables. A typical türbe is located in the grounds of a mosque or complex, often endowed by the ...

, in the Hagia Sofia mosque. The execution of Kasim was the last case of fratricide in the

Ottoman dynasty The Ottoman dynasty () consisted of the members of the imperial House of Osman (), also known as the Ottomans (). According to Ottoman tradition, the family originated from the Kayı tribe branch of the Oghuz Turks, under the leadership of Os ...

, after which the Law of Fratricide fell into disuse and was definitively replaced by

agnatic seniority Agnatic seniority is a patrilineality, patrilineal principle of inheritance where the order of succession to the throne prefers the monarch's younger brother over the monarch's own sons. A monarch's children (the next generation) succeed only ...

as a law of succession.

In popular culture

In the television series '' Muhteşem Yüzyıl: Kösem'', Kasım is played by Turkish actor Doğaç Yıldız.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kasim, Sehzade 1614 births 1638 deaths Ottoman princes People from Fatih 17th-century executions by the Ottoman Empire Sons of sultans Sons of caliphs