Suleyman was just as bellicose as his father, if not as gratuitously cruel

CHRISTOPHER DE BELLAIGUE talks to Rhiannon Davies about his book charting the early years of Suleyman the Magnificent's reign, when the sultan had to navigate the deadly machinations of the Ottoman court as well as battle Christian powers

- CHRISTOPHER DE BELLAIGUE

Rhiannon Davies: How did Suleyman the Magnificent become sultan of the Ottoman empire - the 10th man to hold that title?

The Lion House: The Coming of a King by Christopher de Bellaigue (The Bodley Head, 304 pages, £20)

Christopher de Bellaigue: Suleyman had a very easy rise to the sultanate because his father, Selim - known as “the Grim”- had no compunction about killing. Everyone else who could have become sultan had been dispatched. There was a tradition that had become law under Mehmed the Conqueror, Suleyman's great-grandfather, by which the Ottoman sultan could kill brothers and sons in order to ease the passage to the sultanate of a particular favoured son or brother. And, indeed, Suleyman benefited from this tradition - Selim killed several brothers and nephews and, however many sons he may have had, only Suleyman was allowed to survive.

Suleyman came to power in 1520, after his father had ruled for a very short of period of time. During his reign, Selim had almost doubled the extent of Ottoman territory - he defeated the Iranians, captured Egypt, and gained control of the Holy Land. Under him, the Ottomans went from being a large power with a very significant European presence to a much larger power with a more Eurasian identity.

Selim then died very unexpectedly, possibly of the plague, and Suleyman came to power unopposed. His accession was greeted with enormous relief by the European powers - and by Christendom as a whole - because the Christian powers were in enormous terror of Selim, and thought that Suleyman could only be an improvement.

In what ways did the threat of violence hang over Suleyman's relationship with his father?