The Ottoman Sultans Who Were Raised in Cages

Topkapi Palace from across the Bosporus, Istanbul. Photo credit: Faraways/Shutterstock.com Situated in the heart of Istanbul and visible from across the Bosporus, is the Topkapi Palace, an enormous complex that once served as the royal residence and administrative headquarters of the Ottoman sultans. A major part of this complex was dedicated to the Imperial Harem where the females of the royal family lived including the sultan’s mother, his wives and concubines, their children and the servants who attended to them. Connected to the harem but tucked away behind a high wall was the chamber of the Ottoman princes. It’s a single story building handsomely decorated on the inside with high ceiling, tiled walls and carpeted floors. Ornate stained glass windows looked out across the high terrace and the garden of the pool below. Despite their splendor, this building had a sinister purpose—it was a prison, meant to keep all possible successors to the throne locked up so that they could never challenge the reigning sultan. These chambers were known as kafes, whose literal translation is “cage”. The cruel practice was invented in the early 17th century to replace an even more barbarous tradition. Since the early days of the Ottoman empire, it was common for a new sultan to have his brothers killed, some of whom were infants still at the breast. As in many Islamic dynasties, the Turks practiced the “rule of elderness” where inheritance went from brother to brother, rather than from father to son. So all males within an older generation must be exhausted before the power went to the eldest male in the next generation. This led many to conspire against their own brothers, leading to revolt, war and even murder.