Abdulmejid married nineteen times and had forty-four children. He left several sons, of whom four eventually succeeded to the throne. His marriages were:
Naile Sultan (Dolmabahçe Palace,Istanbul, 30 September 1856 – 18 January 1882), married at the Dolmabahçe Palace, Istanbul, 6 October 1876, Damat Mehmed Pasha (died 24 May 1909), 1st ADC to Abdul Hamid II;
Şehzade Mehmed Vamik (19 April 1849 – 6 August 1849, buried in New Mosque - Refia Sultan türbesi);
Fülane Sultan (16 December 1858 – 16 December 1858);
Fülane Sultan (30 May 1860 – 30 May 1860);
I. Abdülmecid (1823-1861)
Abdülmecid I (Ottoman Turkish:عبد المجيد اول Abdülmecîd-i evvel; 25 April 1823 – 25 June 1861) or Tanzimatçı Sultan Abdülmecid (Sultan Abdülmecid the Reorganizer) due to the Tanzimat reforms he conducted, he is also known as Abdulmejid and similar spellings, was the 31st Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and succeeded his father Mahmud II on 2 July 1839. His reign was notable for the rise of nationalist movements within the empire's territories. Abdulmejid wanted to encourage Ottomanism among the secessionist subject nations and stop the rise of nationalist movements within the empire, but failed to succeed despite trying to integrate non-Muslims and non-Turks more thoroughly into Ottoman society with new laws and reforms.
He tried to forge alliances with the major powers of Western Europe, namely the United Kingdom and France, who fought alongside the Ottoman Empire in the Crimean War against Russia. In the following Congress of Paris on 30 March 1856,the Ottoman Empire was officially included among the European family of nations. Abdulmejid's biggest achievement was the announcement and application of the Tanzimat(reorganization) reforms which were prepared by his father and effectively started the modernization of the Ottoman Empire in 1839. For this achievement, one of the Imperial anthems of the Ottoman Empire, the March of Abdulmejid, was named after him.
Abdulmejid received a European education and spoke fluent French, the first sultan to do so.Like Abdülaziz who succeeded him, he was interested in literature and classical music. Like his father Mahmud II, he was an advocate of reforms and was lucky enough to have the support of progressive viziers such as Mustafa Reşit Pasha, Mehmet Emin Ali Paşa and Fuad Pasha. Throughout his reign he had to struggle against conservatives who opposed his reforms. Abdulmejid was also the first sultan to directly listen to the public's complaints on special reception days, which were usually held every Friday without any middlemen. Abdulmejid toured the empire's territories to see in person how the Tanzimat reforms were being applied. He travelled to İzmit, Mudanya, Bursa, Gallipoli, Çanakkale, Lemnos, Lesbos and Chios in 1844 and toured the Balkan provinces in 1846.
Dolmabahçe Palace, the first European-style palace in Istanbul, was built by Abdulmejid between 1843 and 1856, at a cost of five million Ottoman gold pounds, the equivalent of 35 tons of gold. Fourteen tons of gold was used to adorn the interior ceiling of the palace. The world's largest Bohemian crystal chandelier, a gift from Queen Victoria, is in the centre hall. The palace has the largest collection of Bohemian and Baccarat crystal chandeliers in the world, and even the staircases are made of Baccarat crystal. (L)
Abdulmejid (left) with Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and Emperor Napoleon III of France — The allies.
When Abdulmejid succeeded to the throne, the affairs of the Ottoman Empire were in a critical state. At the time his father died, the news reached Istanbul that the empire’s army had been defeated at Nizip by the army of the rebel Egyptianviceroy,Muhammad Ali. At the same time, the empire's fleet was on its way to Alexandria, where it was handed over to Muhammad Ali by its commander Ahmed Fevzi Pasha, on the pretext that the young sultan's advisers had sided with Russia. However, through the intervention of the European powers, Muhammad Ali was obliged to come to terms, and the Ottoman Empire was saved from further attacks while its territories in Syria, Lebanon and Palestine were restored. The terms were finalised at the Convention of London (1840).
In compliance with his father's express instructions, Abdulmejid immediately carried out the reforms to which Mahmud II had devoted himself. In November 1839 an edict known as the Hatt-ı Şerif of Gülhane, also known as Tanzimat Fermanı was proclaimed, consolidating and enforcing these reforms. The edict was supplemented at the close of the Crimean War by a similar statute issued in February 1856, named the Hatt-ı Hümayun. By these enactments it was provided that all classes of the sultan’s subjects should have their lives and property protected; that taxes should be fairly imposed and justice impartially administered; and that all should have full religious liberty and equal civil rights. The scheme met with strong opposition from the Muslim governing classes and the ulema, or religious authorities, and was only partially implemented, especially in the remoter parts of the empire. More than one conspiracy was formed against the sultan’s life on account of it.
The most important reform measures promoted by Abdulmejid were:
Introduction of the first Ottoman paper banknotes (1840)
Reorganisation of the army, including the introduction of conscription (1842-1844)
Abolition of a capitation tax which imposed higher tariffs on non-Muslims (1856)
Non-Muslims were allowed to become soldiers in the Ottoman army (1856)
Various provisions for the better administration of the public service and for the advancement of commerce
New land laws confirming the right of ownership (1858)
Decriminalisation of homosexuality (1858)
Another notable reform was that the turban was officially outlawed for the first time during Abdulmejid's reign, in favour of the fez. European fashions were also adopted by the Court. (The fez would be banned in 1925 by the same Republican National Assembly that abolished the sultanate and proclaimed the Turkish Republic in 1923).
Samuel Morse received his first ever patent for the telegraph in 1847, at the old Beylerbeyi Palace (the present Beylerbeyi Palace was built in 1861-1865 on the same location) in Istanbul, which was issued by Sultan Abulmejid who personally tested the new invention.
When Kossuth and others sought refuge in Turkey after the failure of the Hungarian uprising in 1849, the sultan was called on by Austria and Russia to surrender them, but he refused. He also would not allow the conspirators against his own life to be put to death. The 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica says of him, “He bore the character of being a kind and honourable man, if somewhat weak and easily led. Against this, however, must be set down his excessive extravagance, especially towards the end of his life."
In 1844 he created the Ottoman liraand in 1852 he instituted the Order of the Medjidie.
The Ottoman Empire received the first of its foreign loans on 25 August 1854 during the Crimean War. This major foreign loan was followed by those of 1855, 1858 and 1860, which culminated in default and led to the alienation of European sympathy from the Ottoman Empire and indirectly to the later dethronement and death of Abdulmejid's brother Abdülaziz.
His success in foreign relations was not as notable as his domestic accomplishments. His reign started off with the defeat of his forces by the Viceroy of Egypt and the subsequent signing of the Convention of London (1840), which saved his empire from a greater embarrassment. The Ottomans successfully participated in the Crimean War and were winning signatories at the Treaty of Paris (1856). His attempts at strengthening his base in the Balkans failed in Bosnia and Montenegro, and in 1861 he was forced to give up Lebanon by the Concert of Europe.
He restored the Hagia Sophiabetween 1847 and 1849, and was responsible for the construction of the Dolmabahçe Palace. He also founded the first French Theatre in Istanbul.
How an OTTOMAN Sultan Helped Ireland During the Great FAMINE
📹 How an OTTOMAN Sultan Helped Ireland During the Great FAMINE (VİDEO)
📹 How an OTTOMAN Sultan Helped Ireland During the Great FAMINE (LINK)
How an OTTOMAN Sultan Helped Ireland During the Great FAMINE
The Great Famine in the mid-19th century was one of the most devastating events in Irish history.
Between 1845 and 1852, potato blight hit the island’s potato crop. The potato was a staple item of food in Ireland. A lack of good harvesting led to mass starvation, disease, and the deaths of nearly a million people.
One of the unexpected sources of aid in this crisis was the Ottoman Caliphate. Sultan Abdul Majeed I the First, went out of his way to try to help so he could ease the suffering of the Irish people.
Sultan Abdul Majeed was only 23 years old in 1847 when he personally offered £10,000 in aid to Ireland, but he had already ruled the Caliphate for nearly ten years.
In that time, he earned the admiration of many of his own subjects and others around the world. But this time he would have to scale back his generosity. British diplomats advised him that it would be offensive for anyone to offer more than Queen Victoria, who had only donated £2,000.
It was suggested that he should donate half of that amount, so he gave £1,000. The Sultan’s donation was appreciated by the public in Britain and Ireland as well. One English religious journal published an article titled “A Benevolent Sultan” in which the author wrote,
“For the first time a Mohammedan sovereign, representing multitudinous Islamic populations, manifests spontaneously a warm sympathy with a Christian nation. May such sympathies, in all the genial charities of a common humanity, be cultivated and henceforth ever be maintained between the followers of the crescent and the cross!”
The press also blamed the British diplomats in Constantinople for rejecting the initial donation of £10,000 just to avoid embarrassing Queen Victoria.
Meanwhile, Sultan Abdul Majeed had found other ways to help.
Today, the port town of Drogheda in Ireland includes a crescent and a star, both of which are symbols of Islam, in its coat of arms.
Local tradition in the town has it that these symbols were adopted after the Ottoman Empire secretly sent five ships loaded with food to the town in May 1847.
The reason for the secrecy is that the British administration had allegedly tried to block the ships from entering Drogheda’s harbor.
Evidence that story these claims include newspaper articles from the period and a letter from Irish notables explicitly thanking the sultan for his help.
The nationalist Irish Freeman’s Journal celebrated these efforts.
“The conduct of Abdul Majeed on the occasion referred to,” the author wrote, “was that of a good, humane, and generous man. A believer in Mohammedanism, he acted in the true spirit of a follower of Christ, and set an example which many professing Christians would do well to imitate.”
Though Abdul Majeed probably hadn’t expected any kind of returns on his aid to the Irish, some of them rallied to his side in 1854, just two years after the famine ended.
Britain had become involved in the Crimean War to defend Ottoman territory against an expanding Russian Empire.
In addition to Irish nurses and engineers (and some of the first war journalists in history), about 30,000 Irish soldiers served in the war.
Despite the suffering that they and their families had endured during the Great Famine, they were noticed to be serving enthusiastically in defense of the territory of the sultan who had helped them in their time of need.
“Pool in a Harem,” c. 1876, Jean-Léon Gérôme (1824-1904). (L)
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📂 Jean-Léon Gérôme
Jean-Léon Gérôme (1824-1904).
(W)
Jean-Léon Gérôme (11 May 1824 – 10 January 1904) was a French painter and sculptor in the style now known as academicism. His paintings were so widely reproduced that he was "arguably the world's most famous living artist by 1880." The range of his oeuvre included historical painting, Greek mythology, Orientalism, portraits, and other subjects, bringing the academic painting tradition to an artistic climax. He is considered one of the most important painters from this academic period. He was also a teacher with a long list of students.
In 1852, Gérôme received a commission to paint a large mural of an allegorical subject of his choosing. The Age of Augustus, the Birth of Christ, which would combine the birth of Christ with conquered nations paying homage to Augustus, may have been intended to flatter Napoleon III, whose government commissioned the mural and who was identified as a "new Augustus." A considerable down payment enabled Gérôme to travel and research, first in 1853 to Constantinople, together with the actor Edmond Got, and in 1854 to Greece and Turkey and the shores of the Danube, where he was present at a concert of Russian conscripts making music under the threat of a lash.
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