Selim I Seizes the Ottoman Throne

1512

Selim the Grim, a brooding general who had plotted against his gentler father, forced the aged Bayezid II to abdicate and rode into Istanbul backed by the Janissaries. Bayezid died mysteriously on the road to retirement. Selim promptly executed his brothers and nephews to clear the line of succession. His elimination of rival claimants established fratricide as Ottoman succession policy for two centuries.