14. A Sultan Whose Mother “Had to Coax Him Out Like a Kitten With Food“
Sultan Ibrahim I, AKA The Mad Sultan (reigned 1640 – 1648), was imprisoned in the Kafes at age eight when his brother Murad IV ascended the throne in 1623. While in the Kafes, Murad executed his other brothers, one by one, until only Ibrahim was left, dreading when his turn would come. He remained in confinement until he was suddenly dragged out of the Kafes to ascend the throne following Murad’s death in 1640.
Ibrahim refused to accept at first. Instead, he rushed back into the Kafes to barricade himself inside, suspecting it was a cruel trick to entrap him into saying or doing something that his fratricidal brother would take as treasonous. Only after Murad’s dead body was brought to the door for him to examine, and the intercession of his mother, Kosem, “who had to coax him out like a kitten with food“, was Ibrahim convinced to accept the throne.