Suleiman (or Solyman) (c. 1494-1566)

A woodcarving by Domenico de'Franceschi 1565 showing a triumphant procession of the Ottoman sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. The Ottoman Empire made many conquests under Suleiman's rule.

Ottoman sultan from 1520, known as the Magnificent and the Lawgiver. Under his rule, the Ottoman Empire flourished and reached its largest extent; see Turkey: history to 1923, expansion of the Ottoman Empire. He made conquests in the Balkans, the Mediterranean, Persia, and North Africa, but was defeated at Vienna in 1529 and Valletta (on Malta) in 1565. He was a patron of the arts, a poet, and an administrator.

Suleiman captured Belgrade in 1521, the Mediterranean island of Rhodes in 1522, defeated the Hungarians at Mohács in 1526, and was halted in his advance into Europe only by his failure to take Vienna, capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, after a siege from September to October 1529. In 1534 he turned more successfully against Persia, and then in campaigns against the Arab world took almost all of North Africa and the Red Sea port of Aden. Only the Knights of Malta inflicted severe defeat on both his army and fleet when he tried to take Valletta in 1565.