Murad IV, Ottoman Sultan AH 1032-1049/AD 1632-1640

A 1369, Very Fine

Jazai’r (Algeirs) mint, actual date rather than accession date. Sultan Murad bin Ahmed khan ‘azza nasruhu, mint and date below; Reverse, sultan al-birrayn wa khaqan al-bahrayn al-sultan bin al-sultan “sultan of the two lands and khaqan of the two seas, the sultan, son of the sultan”. The “two lands” allude to Asia and Europe, separated at Constantinople by the Bosporus. The “two seas” are the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. Very rare.

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Murad IV (1623-1640) came to power at age 11, following his uncle, Mustafa I. Murad, the son of Sultan Ahmed I, was a mere puppet in the hands of his Greek mother and other power brokers at court. The empire fell into decline as the Safavid Persians broke the Peace of Amasya, which since 1555 had defined the border between the Ottoman Empire and Iran, capturing most of Iraq. At the same time, political and religious rebellions broke out across the empire. At the age of 16, out of fear of a palace coup, Murad took full charge of the affairs of state and asserted himself as absolute monarch. He brutally executed a number of relatives and high ranking officials on charges of corruption and for reasons of security. Murad confronted the Safavid forces successfully and reinstated the terms of the Amasya treaty, with the Safavid Shah acknowledging the permanent loss of Baghdad and Mesopotamia.