On September 30, 1520, Suleiman I becomes Sultan. He succeeds Selim I to the throne. Sultan Suleiman I went down in history as Suleiman the Magnificent or Suleiman the Lawgiver.
Suleiman I was the 10th and longest-reigning sultan of the Ottoman Empire - from 1520 to 1566. He succeeded his father Selim I on the throne, and he was himself succeeded by his son Selim II.
During his reign, his empire stretched from Central Europe to China and from the Pillars of Hercules to the Indian Ocean.
The imperative law of the empire was the Sharia (sacred law), which as the divine law of Islam was beyond the sultan's power to change. This did not prevent Suleiman the Magnificent from creating the first legal code of the Ottoman Empire, which attempted to unify the work of the court and the administration.
It is known as the “Ottoman Laws“ and lasted for the next 3 centuries. His tax reform predetermined the development of the empire for centuries to come. The Sultan is also considered the father of criminal law in the empire, which broke with some norms of Sharia.
In addition to military successes, the Sultan also carried out an educational reform that supported the opening of schools to mosques, thus ensuring the vitality of the empire in the following centuries.
While he seemed dangerous to the rest of the world, inside the empire he had the reputation of a just ruler who fought corruption.
Through his personal patronage, Suleiman stood at the head of the Golden Age of the Ottoman Empire, which represented the peak of the cultural achievements of the Ottoman Turks in the fields of architecture, literature, art, theology and philosophy.
Under his rule, the Ottoman Empire reached its greatest flourishing in terms of territory and economic power. The reforms carried out by the sultan ensured the preservation of the empire in the following centuries.