SOLYMAN I, El Kanouni (THE MAG NIFICENT), emperor of Turkey, son of Selim I: b. 1493; d. Szigeth, Hungary, 1566. He suc ceeded his father in 1520, crushed a rebellion in Syria in 1521, concluded a treaty of peace with Venice and then inaugurated the first of a long series of wars against Europe. He captured Belgrade in 1521, Rhodes in 1522, defeated the Hungarians with fearful loss at Mohacs in 1526 and mastered Buda in 1529. He then laid siege to Vienna, but met with disastrous defeat. He took Bagdad in 1534, and on condition of an enormous yearly tribute concluded a peace with Venice in 1539 and with Austria in 1547. He made successful war against Kurdistan, con quered Van and Tebriz and part of Georgia in 1548, but in the next year met with continued losses at the hands of Austria, and in 1552 he was defeated with enormous loss in the siege of Erlau. His wars with Persia in 1554-55 were disastrous as were also his Hungarian wars of 1558. He attempted to break Spain's naval
power, but met with defeat at Malta in 1565, though he took the Isle of Chios in 1566. He was engaged in a war with Austria when he fell at the siege of Szigeth. His reign saw the zenith and the decline of Ottoman power. He remodeled the code of laws, introduced reforms in the judiciary and in taxation and erected mosques and public buildings which are marvels of Ottoman architecture. He was also a poet and a patron of literature and art. In addi tion to his own superior abilities he was aided by statesmen, generals and naval commanders of unquestionable greatness. His successes came principally in the early years of his reign and though he left his empire with greatly ex tended boundaries it had been much weakened by his long continued wars.