SULEYMAN I

born November 1494/, April 1495 died Sept. 5/6, 1566, near Szigetvr, Hung. byname Sleyman the Magnificent, or The Lawgiver, Turkish Sleyman Muhtesem, or Kanuni sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1520 to 1566, who not only undertook bold military campaigns that enlarged his realm but also oversaw the development of what came to be regarded as the most characteristic achievements of Ottoman civilization in the fields of law, literature, art, and architecture. Additional reading Roger Bigelow Merriman, Suleiman the Magnificent, 152066 (1944, reprinted 1966), is a biography. Antony Bridge, Suleiman the Magnificent, Scourge of Heaven (1983), examines his military campaigns.