شيخزاده يحيى
شيخزاده يحيى Şehzade Yahya أوالسلطان يحيى Sultan Yahya (عاش 1585-1649) كان الابن الثالث للسلطان العثماني محمد الثالث العثماني (الذي خلف أباه السلطان مراد الثالث في 1595). أمه كانت أميرة من أسرة كومننوس البيزنطية الحاكمة في طرابيزوند، وهوفرع من الأسرة الأمبراطورية بنفس الاسم من القسطنطينية. حين أصبح والده، محمد، سلطاناً، فقد اتبع التقليد العثماني بإعدام جميع أشقائه (لكي لا يصبحوا مطالبين بالعرش العثماني). أم يحيى خافت من حتى ذلك قد يحدث له، بعد وفاة والده، ولذلك هرّبته، في البداية إلى اليونان، ثم إلى ما يسمى اليوم بلغاريا. ويُفترض أنه قد عـُمـِّد في دير مسيحي أرثوذكسي، حيث عاش الثمان سنوات التالية من عمره.
المعركة على العرش العثماني
Eventually, Yahya's two older brothers died, but in 1603, his younger brother Ahmed I (the fourth-born) became Ottoman sultan. Jahya believed that as the next oldest son, he was next in line to be Ottoman Sultan and felt cheated out of his rightful destiny, thus for the rest of his life Yahya dedicated himself to gaining the Ottoman Imperial Throne. However, the standard Ottoman practice at the time for determining the succession was not birth order of sons; instead the Ottoman laws of succession to the throne stated that "during their father's lifetime, all of the adult sons of the reigning sultan would hold provincial governorships. Accompanied and mentored by their mothers, they would gather supporters and after the death of their father, the sons would fight among themselves until one emerged triumphant."
From 1603 on, Yahya made frequent trips to northern and western Europe to gain support (visiting Florence, Madrid, Rome, Kraków, Antwerp, Prague, and other cities). Between 1614 and 1617 he schemed with Serbian Orthodox Christian bishops in Kosovo and Western-Roman Catholic bishops and leaders as part of his strategy to gain the Ottoman Imperial Throne. A few years later, with the assistance of Russian and Ukrainian cossacks, he led a fleet of 130 ships that attacked Istanbul. He finally died in 1649 on Montenegro's coast, where he was involved in a rebellion organized by the Western-Roman Catholic bishops of Skodra-and-Bar.
الأهمية التاريخية
Sultan Yahya's activities in the late 16th/early 17th century Balkans occurred in a context where religious boundaries between Islam and Christianity could be remarkably fluid and ambiguous. He had grown up influenced by his Orthodox Christian mother, and many of the other wives and concubines of his father had been Christian as well. The northern part of present day Albania and Kosovo recorded for that period instances of whole families and clans converting at least in name to Islam, and parallel reports of crypto-Christianity (mainly crypto-Catholicism), when some inhabitants would practice their old religion in secret. There were also instances where nominally Christian or Muslim inhabitants mixed elements of both religions. Many of Yahya's activities involved plotting with Christians in present-day Albania and Kosovo. Reports of Albanian and Kosovar crypto-Catholicism continued into the 21st century.
In contrast with the 16th century, present day Balkan cultural (as well as political) boundaries between Islam and Christianity are for the most part more well-defined and recognizable, and Sultan Yahya's activities in retrospect seem to be more remarkable. He repeatedly promised potential and actual sponsors and allies that if he succeeded, he would make Christianity the state religion of the Ottoman Empire. This promise was reportedly made to a succession of four popes, and was a constant part of all his proposals that were pitched to wealthy citizens and sovereigns across Europe. It is tantalizing to speculate what would have happened to Europe and to the Ottoman Empire had Yahya succeeded in his efforts.
انظر أيضاً
List of unrecognized heir of the Ottoman dynasty
الهامش
- ^ Kosovo, A Short History (1998), Noel Malcolm -- Harper Perennial - pp. 121 - 122 ISBN 978-0-06-097775-7
- ^ Kosovo, A Short History (1998), Noel Malcolm -- Harper Perennial - p. 124 ISBN 978-0-06-097775-7
- ^ http://gypsyscholarship.blogspot.com/2008/11/crypto-catholics-among-albanians.html Retrieved 4-8-2010
- ^ http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE48S07Y20080929?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0 Retrieved 4-8-2010
- ^ http://balkanfever.at/2009/index.php/die-unglaubliche-geschichte-des-sultan-jahja Retrieved 4-8-2010
