Cem Sultan (also spelled Djem or Jem) or Sultan Cem or Şehzade Cem (December 22, 1459 – February 25, 1495, ; ota, جم سلطان, Cem sulṭān; tr, Cem Sultan; french: Zizim), was a claimant to the Ottoman throne in the 15th century.
Cem was the third son of Sultan
Mehmed II
Mehmed II ( ota, محمد ثانى, translit=Meḥmed-i s̱ānī; tr, II. Mehmed, ; 30 March 14323 May 1481), commonly known as Mehmed the Conqueror ( ota, ابو الفتح, Ebū'l-fetḥ, lit=the Father of Conquest, links=no; tr, Fâtih Su ...
and younger half-brother of Sultan
Bayezid II
Bayezid II ( ota, بايزيد ثانى, Bāyezīd-i s̱ānī, 3 December 1447 – 26 May 1512, Turkish: ''II. Bayezid'') was the eldest son and successor of Mehmed II, ruling as Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1481 to 1512. During his reign, ...
, and thus a half-uncle of Sultan
Selim I of Ottoman Empire.
After being defeated by Bayezid, Cem went in exile in Egypt and Europe, under the protection of the Mamluks, the
Knights Hospitaller of St. John
The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem ( la, Ordo Fratrum Hospitalis Sancti Ioannis Hierosolymitani), commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), was a medieval and early modern Catholic military order. It was headqu ...
on the island of
Rhodes, and ultimately the
Pope.
Early life
Cem was born on December 22, 1459, in
Edirne. His mother was
Çiçek Hatun
Çiçek Hatun ( ota, چیچک خاتون; "''flower''" or "''blossom''"; died 3 May 1498) was a consort of Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror of the Ottoman Empire. She was the mother of Sultan Cem, a pretender to the Ottoman throne.
Early years
The ori ...
. In accordance with the custom for an
Şehzade (prince) Cem was appointed to a provincial governorship of
Kastamonu in 1469. In December 1474, Cem replaced his deceased brother Mustafa as governor of
Karaman in
Konya.
Succession dispute
At the death of
Mehmed the Conqueror, on May 3, 1481, Bayezid was the governor of
Sivas,
Tokat and
Amasya, and Cem ruled the provinces of
Karaman and
Konya. With no designated heir after Mehmed, conflict over succession to the throne erupted between Cem and Bayezid.
Contrary to
Islamic law, which prohibits any unnecessary delay in burial, Mehmed II's body was transported to
Constantinople, where it lay three days. His
grand vizier
Grand vizier ( fa, وزيرِ اعظم, vazîr-i aʾzam; ota, صدر اعظم, sadr-ı aʾzam; tr, sadrazam) was the title of the effective head of government of many sovereign states in the Islamic world. The office of Grand Vizier was first ...
Karamanlı Mehmet Pasha
Karamanlı or Karamani Mehmet Pasha (died May 4, 1481) was an Ottoman Empire, Ottoman statesman who served as Grand Vizier from 1477 to 1481.
Early years
Karamani was born in Konya and was a descendant of Rumi. He traveled to Constantinople (p ...
– believing himself to be fulfilling the wishes of the recently deceased Sultan – attempted to arrange a situation whereby the younger son Cem, whose governing seat at Konya was closer than his brother Bayezid's seat at Amasya, would arrive in Constantinople prior to his older sibling and be able to claim the throne.
However, Bayezid had already established a political network of influential
pashas (two of whom were his sons-in-law), the
janissaries
A Janissary ( ota, یڭیچری, yeŋiçeri, , ) was a member of the elite infantry units that formed the Ottoman Sultan's household troops and the first modern standing army in Europe. The corps was most likely established under sultan Orhan ( ...
, and those opposed to the policies of Mehmed II and the grand vizier. In spite of Karamanlı Mehmet Pasha's attempts at secrecy, the Sultan's death and the grand vizier's plan were discovered by the
Janissary corps, who supported Bayezid over Cem and had been kept out of the capital after the Sultan's death. As a result, the Janissary corps rebelled, entering the capital, and lynched the grand vizier.

After the death of Karamanlı Mehmet Pasha, there was widespread rioting among the janissaries in Constantinople as there was neither a sultan nor a grand vizier to control the developments. Understanding the danger of the situation, former grand vizier
Ishak Pasha took the initiative of beseeching Bayezid to arrive with all due haste. In the meantime, Ishak Pasha took the cautionary measure of proclaiming Bayezid's 11-year-old son, Sehzade (prince)
Korkut, as regent until the arrival of his father.
Prince Bayezid arrived at
Constantinople on May 21, 1481, and was declared
Sultan Bayezid II
Bayezid II ( ota, بايزيد ثانى, Bāyezīd-i s̱ānī, 3 December 1447 – 26 May 1512, Turkish: ''II. Bayezid'') was the eldest son and successor of Mehmed II, ruling as Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1481 to 1512. During his reign, B ...
. Only six days later, Cem captured the city of
Inegöl with an army of 4,000. Sultan Bayezid sent his army under the command of
vizier Ayas Pasha to kill his brother. On May 28, Cem had defeated Bayezid's army and declared himself Sultan of
Anatolia, establishing his capital at
Bursa
( grc-gre, Προῦσα, Proûsa, Latin: Prusa, ota, بورسه, Arabic:بورصة) is a city in northwestern Turkey and the administrative center of Bursa Province. The fourth-most populous city in Turkey and second-most populous in the ...
. He proposed to divide the empire between him and his brother, leaving Bayezid the European side. Bayezid furiously rejected the proposal, declared that "between rulers there is no kinship,"
and marched on to Bursa. The decisive battle between the two contenders to the Ottoman throne took place on June 19, 1481, near the town of
Yenişehir. Cem lost and fled with his family to the
Mamluk Cairo.
In Cairo
The Mamlūk sultan
Qāʾit Bāy
Sultan Abu Al-Nasr Sayf ad-Din Al-Ashraf Qaitbay ( ar, السلطان أبو النصر سيف الدين الأشرف قايتباي) (c. 1416/14187 August 1496) was the eighteenth Burji Mamluk Sultan of Egypt from 872 to 901 A.H. (1468–149 ...
(r. 1468–1496) received Cem with honour in Cairo, and Cem took the opportunity to go on pilgrimage to
Mecca. Making him the only Ottoman prince to have made the pilgrimage.
In Cairo, Cem received a letter from his brother, offering Cem one million
akçe
The ''akçe'' or ''akça'' (also spelled ''akche'', ''akcheh''; ota, آقچه; ) refers to a silver coin which was the chief monetary unit of the Ottoman Empire. The word itself evolved from the word "silver or silver money", this word is deri ...
s (the Ottoman currency) to stop competing for the throne. Cem rejected the offer, and in the following year he launched a campaign in Anatolia under the support of Kasım Bey (Qāsım Beğ), heir of the ruling house of Karaman, and the ''
sanjek bey'' of Ankara. On May 27, 1482, Cem besieged Konya but was soon defeated and forced to withdraw to
Ankara. He intended to give it all up and return to Cairo but all of the roads to Egypt were under Bayezid's control. Cem then tried to renegotiate with his brother. Bayezid offered him a stipend to live quietly in Jerusalem but refused to divide the empire, prompting Cem to flee to
Rhodes on July 29, 1482.
Imprisonment
Knights Hospitaler
Upon arriving at Rhodes, Cem asked the protection of the French captain of
Bodrum Castle.
Pierre d'Aubusson
Pierre d'Aubusson (1423 – 3 July 1503) was a Grand Master of the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, and a zealous opponent of the Ottoman Empire.
Pierre probably joined the Knights of Saint John in 1444 or 1445, and then left for Rhodes.
Ear ...
, grand master of the
Knights of St. John
The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem ( la, Ordo Fratrum Hospitalis Sancti Ioannis Hierosolymitani), commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), was a medieval and early modern Catholic military order. It was headq ...
, the Latin Catholic order on the island. On July 29, Cem arrived at Rhodes and was received with honor. In return for the overthrow of the new sultan Bayezid, Prince Cem offered perpetual peace between the Ottoman Empire and Christendom if he regained the Ottoman throne. However,
Pierre d'Aubusson
Pierre d'Aubusson (1423 – 3 July 1503) was a Grand Master of the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, and a zealous opponent of the Ottoman Empire.
Pierre probably joined the Knights of Saint John in 1444 or 1445, and then left for Rhodes.
Ear ...
realized that conflict with Bayezid would be imprudent, so he secretly approached Bayezid, concluded a peace treaty, and then reached a separate agreement on Cem's captivity in March 1483. D'Aubusson promised Bayezid to detain Cem in return for an annual payment of 40,000 ducats for his maintenance.
Therefore, the Knights took the money and betrayed Cem, who thereafter became a well-treated prisoner at Rhodes. Afterwards, Cem was sent to the castle of Pierre d'Aubusson in
France.
France

Cem had reached Nice, at that time in the
Duchy of Savoy
The Duchy of Savoy ( it, Ducato di Savoia; french: Duché de Savoie) was a country in Western Europe that existed from 1416.
It was created when Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor, raised the County of Savoy into a duchy for Amadeus VIII. The duc ...
, on 17 October 1482, en route to Hungary, but the Knights were playing for time. After the agreement about his confinement was finalised, he became a hostage, as well as a potential pawn. Those who hoped to use his name and person to foment turmoil in the Ottoman realm included the Mamlūk sultan Qāʾit Bāy,
Matthias Corvinus, king of Hungary, and
Pope Innocent VIII
Pope Innocent VIII ( la, Innocentius VIII; it, Innocenzo VIII; 1432 – 25 July 1492), born Giovanni Battista Cybo (or Cibo), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 29 August 1484 to his death in July 1492. Son of th ...
. Others, such as the Knights of Saint John, the Venetians, the king of Naples, and Popes Innocent VIII and
Alexander VI, viewed his presence in Europe as a deterrent to Ottoman aggression against Christendom and an opportunity for profit. For his part, Bayezid II dispatched ambassadors and spies to the West to assure that his rival was detained indefinitely, and he even attempted to eliminate him through assassination.
Cem spent a year in the Duchy of Savoy. After the death of King
Louis XI of France
Louis XI (3 July 1423 – 30 August 1483), called "Louis the Prudent" (french: le Prudent), was King of France from 1461 to 1483. He succeeded his father, Charles VII.
Louis entered into open rebellion against his father in a short-lived revo ...
(August 30, 1483), who had refused to accept a Muslim in his lands, the Knights of Saint John transferred him to Limousin (D'Aubusson's birthplace). Cem spent the next five years there, mostly at
Bourganeuf
Bourganeuf (; Limousin: ''Borgon Nuòu'') is a commune in the Creuse department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region in central France.
Geography
An area of farming and forestry, comprising the village and several hamlets situated in the valley of t ...
. He was well treated, but essentially a captive (a fortified tower was constructed to house him). Bayezid II negotiated both with D'Aubusson, to have Cem returned to Rhodes, and with representatives of the new French monarch,
Charles VIII, to have him kept in France. When the king of Hungary and Pope Innocent VIII sought custody of the prince, the Pope prevailed, and Cem arrived in Rome on 13 March 1489.
Rome

Innocent VIII rebuffed overtures from the Mamlūks and prepared to launch a crusade against the Ottomans, but it was postponed when
Matthias Corvinus of Hungary died on April 6, 1490. These developments worried Bayezid, who contacted D'Aubusson and also sent Mustafa Bey (later a grand vizier) to Rome, to conclude a secret agreement, in December 1490. The sultan promised not to attack Rhodes, Rome, or Venice, as well as to pay Cem's allowance of 40,000 ducats to the Pope (10,000 of which were earmarked for the Knights of Saint John), in return for the prince's incarceration. Apparently, Cem found life in Rome more pleasant than in France, and he had lost hope of seizing the Ottoman throne, but he wanted to die in a Muslim land. His wish would not be realized.
Pope Innocent VIII
Pope Innocent VIII ( la, Innocentius VIII; it, Innocenzo VIII; 1432 – 25 July 1492), born Giovanni Battista Cybo (or Cibo), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 29 August 1484 to his death in July 1492. Son of th ...
unsuccessfully attempted to use Cem to begin a new crusade against the Ottomans. The Pope also tried to convert Cem to
Christianity, without success. Cem's presence in Rome was useful nevertheless, because whenever Bayezid intended to launch a military campaign against Christian nations of the
Balkans, the Pope would threaten to release his brother.
In exchange for maintaining the custody of Cem, Bayezid paid Innocent VIII 120,000 crowns (at the time, equal to all other annual sources of papal revenue combined), a relic of the
Holy Lance
The Holy Lance, also known as the Lance of Longinus (named after Saint Longinus), the Spear of Destiny, or the Holy Spear, is the lance that pierced the side of Jesus as he hung on the cross during his crucifixion.
Biblical references
The l ...
(which allegedly had pierced the side of Christ), one hundred Moorish slaves, and an annual fee of 45,000 ducats. Much of the costs associated with the
Sistine Chapel were paid with funds from the Ottoman ransoms.
Death

In 1494, Charles VIII invaded Italy, to take possession of the kingdom of Naples, and announced a crusade against the Turks. He compelled
Pope Alexander VI
Pope Alexander VI ( it, Alessandro VI, va, Alexandre VI, es, Alejandro VI; born Rodrigo de Borja; ca-valencia, Roderic Llançol i de Borja ; es, Rodrigo Lanzol y de Borja, lang ; 1431 – 18 August 1503) was head of the Catholic Churc ...
to surrender Cem, who left Rome with the French army on January 28, 1495. The prince died in Naples on February 24. Some accounts attribute his death to poison, but he probably succumbed to pneumonia.
Cem died in
Capua, while on a military expedition to conquer
Naples under the command of King
Charles VIII of France
Charles VIII, called the Affable (french: l'Affable; 30 June 1470 – 7 April 1498), was King of France from 1483 to his death in 1498. He succeeded his father Louis XI at the age of 13.Paul Murray Kendall, ''Louis XI: The Universal Spider'' (Ne ...
. Sultan Bayezid declared national mourning for three days. He also requested to have Cem's body for an
Islamic funeral
Funerals and funeral prayers in Islam ( ar, جنازة, Janazah) follow fairly specific rites, though they are subject to regional interpretation and variation in custom. In all cases, however, sharia (Islamic religious law) calls for burial ...
, but it was not until four years after Cem's death that his body was finally brought to the Ottoman lands because of attempts to receive more gold for Cem's corpse. He was buried in Bursa.
Legacy
Personality
Cem had two
diwans in
Turkish
Turkish may refer to:
*a Turkic language spoken by the Turks
* of or about Turkey
** Turkish language
*** Turkish alphabet
** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation
*** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey
*** Turkish communities and mi ...
and
Persian, and he also spoke
Arabic.
Drawings of Cem
File:Borgia Apartment 002 (cropped)1.jpeg, A man on horseback, possibly Cem, by The Borgia Apartments, by Pinturicchio
File:CemAusschnittWienerCodex8615Fol12r.jpg, Portrait of Cem Sultan, 1586
File:Standing Ottoman.png, Cem drawn on a paper by Gentile Bellini, late 15th century
Family
Consort
Cem had only one know consort:
* Gülşirin Hatun.
Sons
Cem had at least two sons:
*Şehzade Oğuzhan (murdered by
Bayezid II
Bayezid II ( ota, بايزيد ثانى, Bāyezīd-i s̱ānī, 3 December 1447 – 26 May 1512, Turkish: ''II. Bayezid'') was the eldest son and successor of Mehmed II, ruling as Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1481 to 1512. During his reign, ...
,
Istanbul, 1482), called also Şehzade Oğuz;
*
Şehzade Murad
Şehzade Murad ( ota, شہزادہ مراد; 1495 Amasya – 16 October 1519, Kashan or Isfahan) was an Ottoman prince (''şehzade''), the son of Şehzade Ahmet. He was involved in the chaos that surrounded the succession to Sultan Bayezid II ...
(murdered by
Suleiman the Magnificent,
Rhodes, December 1522), married and had a son and three daughters;
Daughters
Cem had at least two daughters:
*Gevhermelik Hatun, called also Gevhermuluk Hatun,
married firstly in 1496 to Damat
Sultan An-Nasir Muhammad, son of
Qaitbay, married secondly in 1503 to Damat Sinan Pasha Beylerbey of Anatolia;
*Ayşe Hatun, married in 1503 to Damat Mehmed Bey, son of Sinan Pasha,
Sanjak-bey of
Ioannina
Ioannina ( el, Ιωάννινα ' ), often called Yannena ( ' ) within Greece, is the capital and largest city of the Ioannina regional unit and of Epirus, an administrative region in north-western Greece. According to the 2011 census, the c ...
Treatments and references
In literature
In the 1490s, a book in
Latin was written about Cem's life. It was illustrated by
Guillaume Caoursin
Guillaume Caoursin, also called Gulielmus Caoursin (1430, Douai – 1501, Rhodes), was vice-chancellor of the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, or Knights Hospitaller. He was an eye-witness to the siege of Rhodes in 1480, an unsuccessful attack o ...
, vice-chancellor of the
Knights Hospitaller. It was published in several European cities that possessed printing capability:
Venice
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...
,
Paris,
Bruges,
Salamanca,
Ulm and
London. The many illustrations in the book are the first accurately described representations in Western Europe of costumes and weapons of the Turkish people.
An account of Cem's captivity—and of the political machinations that kept him captive—forms the basis of the historical novel, ''Francesca: Les Jeux du Sort'' (1872), written by the Haitian writer and political exile,
Demesvar Delorme
Demesvar Delorme (10 February 1831 – 25 December 1901) was a Haitian theoretician, writer, and politician. Born in Cap-Haïtien, he participated in Sylvain Salnave's failed rebellion against President Fabre Geffrard in 1865. After the fall of G ...
.
Cem's life also served as inspiration for a character in the book ''
The Damned Yard
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in E ...
'' (1954) by
Ivo Andrić.
Bulgarian Ottoman historian
Vera Mutafchieva, inspired by Cem Sultan's importance in European politics of the 15th century, wrote a novel (''The Cem Case'') about him in 1967. The book strives for historical accuracy and was translated into Turkish, German, Rumanian, Polish, Russian, Czech, Slovak, Hungarian, French, Estonian, Greek and Croatian.
In film
In 1951, was released historical film ''Cem Sultan'', which main protagonist was portrayed by Bülent Ufuk.
In 1969 was released historical adventure film ''
Malkoçoğlu Cem Sultan
''Malkoçoğlu Cem Sultan'' ( tr, Malkoçoğlu Cem Sultan; fa, سرزمین دلاوران) is a Turkish historical action film by Remzi Aydın Jöntürk. It is one of the numerous collaborations between the famous actor Cüneyt Arkın and Jön ...
'', which directed by
Remzi Aydın Jöntürk
Remzi Aydın Jöntürk (September 15, 1936 – September 2, 1987) was a Turkish filmmaker, actor, screenwriter, and producer. He directed more than 72 feature films in his long career.
Jöntürk is credited for creating and directing some of t ...
, the character of Cem Sultan, was portrayed by
Cihangir Ghaffari.
In television
* In the
Showtime
Showtime or Show Time may refer to:
Film
* ''Showtime'' (film), a 2002 American action/comedy film
* ''Showtime'' (video), a 1995 live concert video by Blur
Television Networks and channels
* Showtime Networks, a division of Paramount Global ...
series ''
The Borgias'', Cem is played by British actor
Elyes Gabel, and is depicted in Rome under the papacy of Innocent VIII's successor,
Pope Alexander VI
Pope Alexander VI ( it, Alessandro VI, va, Alexandre VI, es, Alejandro VI; born Rodrigo de Borja; ca-valencia, Roderic Llançol i de Borja ; es, Rodrigo Lanzol y de Borja, lang ; 1431 – 18 August 1503) was head of the Catholic Churc ...
. He is also portrayed to have sought to convert to Christianity, and to have been assassinated by Alexander VI's son,
Juan Borgia
''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish and Manx versions of ''John''. It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking communities around the world and in the Philippines, and also (pronounced differently) in the Isle of Man. In Spanish, t ...
.
* In the
Canal+ series ''
Borgia
The House of Borgia ( , ; Spanish and an, Borja ; ca-valencia, Borja ) was an Italian-Aragonese Spanish noble family, which rose to prominence during the Italian Renaissance. They were from Valencia, the surname being a toponymic from the town ...
'', the character of Cem, played by Nicolás Belmonte, dies from fever when traveling with Cesare Borgia in Charles' campaign against Naples.
* In the
MBC series ''
Kingdoms of Fire
''Kingdoms of Fire'' ( ar, ممالك النار, Mamalik Al-Nar) is an Arabic historical drama television series about the reign of Ottoman Empire's Selim I and Mamluk Sultanate's Tuman bay II, created by Muhammed Abdulmalik and directed by Brit ...
'', Cem fought against Bayezid II, then he sought refuge with the crusaders, who agreed to host him in exchange to annual tribute from the Ottoman Sultan.
In video games
* In ''
Assassin's Creed: Revelations'', Cem was mentioned to possess an
Apple of Eden
Forbidden fruit is a name given to the fruit growing in the Garden of Eden which God commands mankind not to eat. In the biblical story, Adam and Eve eat the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and are exiled from Eden.
As a ...
, then he became a
Templar acquainted with
Rodrigo Borgia, however, he was eventually killed by the
Assassins
An assassin is a person who commits targeted murder.
Assassin may also refer to:
Origin of term
* Someone belonging to the medieval Persian Ismaili order of Assassins
Animals and insects
* Assassin bugs, a genus in the family ''Reduviid ...
.
Notes
References
*
*
*
Further reading
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cem, Sultan
1459 births
1495 deaths
15th-century Ottoman royalty
Economic history of the Holy See
Ottoman princes
Pretenders to the Ottoman throne
Turkish poets
15th-century Persian-language poets
Divan poets from the Ottoman Empire