Selim II Dies, Murad III Ascends

1574

The bibulous Ottoman sultan Selim II, known as Selim the Sot, died after slipping on the bathhouse floor. His son Murad III succeeded him and promptly had his five younger brothers strangled with silk bowstrings, a grim Ottoman tradition of fratricide that would continue through the century. Murad's withdrawal into the harem shifted real power to viziers and palace factions, a trend characterizing Ottoman politics for a century.