Mehmed IV Modern Turkish Mehmet (Ottoman Turkish: محمد رابع Meḥmed-i rābi‘; also known as Avcı Mehmed, Mehmed the Hunter; January 2, 1642 – January 6, 1693) was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1648 to 1687. Taking the throne at age six, his reign was significant as he changed the nature of the Sultan's position forever by giving up most of his executive power to his Grand Vizier.

Born at Topkapı Palace, Constantinople, in 1642, he was the son of Sultan Ibrahim (1640–48) by Valide Sultan Turhan Hatice, a Ruthenian (Ukrainian) concubine, and the grandson of Kösem Sultan of Greek origin. Soon after his birth, his father and mother quarreled, and Ibrahim was so enraged that he tore Mehmed from his mother's arms and flung the infant into a cistern. Fortunately, Mehmed was rescued by the harem servants. His father's actions resulted in Mehmed cutting his head, which left him with a lifelong scar.

Mehmed ascended to the throne in 1648 at the age of only six. His ascension marked the end of a very volatile time for the Ottoman Dynasty; there had been a Mustafa I deposed twice and two Sultans killed, including Mehmed’s father and predecessor, Ibrahim I.

Mehmed II (March 30, 1432 – May 3, 1481) (Ottoman Turkish: محمد ثانى Meḥmed-i s̠ānī, Turkish: II. Mehmet), (also known as el-Fātiḥ (الفاتح, "the Conqueror" in Ottoman Turkish, in modern Turkish, Fatih Sultan Mehmet; also called Mahomet II in early modern Europe) was Sultan of the Ottoman Empire (Rûm until the conquest) for a short time from 1444 to September 1446, and later from February 1451 to 1481. At the age of 21, he conquered Constantinople and brought an end to the Byzantine Empire, absorbing its administrative apparatus into the Ottoman state. Mehmed continued his conquests in Asia, with the Anatolian reunification, and in Europe, as far as Bosnia and Croatia. Mehmed II is regarded as a national hero in Turkey, and his name has been given to Istanbul's Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge.

Mehmed II was born on March 30, 1432, in Edirne, then the capital city of the Ottoman state. His father was Sultan Murad II (1404–51) and his mother Valide Sultan Hüma Hatun, born in Devrekani county of Kastamonu province.

Turhan Hatice Valide Sultan, Devletlu İsmetlu Turhan Hadice Valide Sultan Aliyyetü'ş-şân Hazretleri (1628? – 1683), was one of the hasekis ("favourite concubine") of the Ottoman sultan Ibrahim I (reign 1640-1648) and the mother of his successor, Mehmed IV (reign 1648-1687). Turhan Hatice is prominent for the regency of her young son and her building patronage.

Turhan Hatice, whose original name is Nadya, was considered to be of Ruthenian (Ukrainian) origin. She was captured during one of the raids by Tatars and sold into slavery. When she was about 12 years old, Turhan was sent to the Topkapı Palace as a gift to the mother of Sultan Ibrahim, Kösem Sultan. It was probably Kösem Sultan who gave Hatice to Ibrahim as a concubine. On January 2, 1642 Turhan gave birth to a son, the future sultan Mehmed IV. Ibrahim's behaviour sparked talks of deposing the sultan. On August 8, 1648, Ibrahim was dethroned and several days later he was strangled. At the head of the Ottoman empire stood the child sultan, Mehmed IV. With Mehmed's ascendency, the position of Valide Sultan ("mother of the reigning sultan") should have gone to Turhan. However, Turhan was overlooked due to her youth and inexperience. Instead, the sultan's grandmother and the previous Valide Sultan, Kösem Sultan, was reinstated to this high position. Kösem Sultan was a Valide (mother) under two sons, thus having the more experience of the two women.

Mehmed I Çelebi (Ottoman: چلبی محمد, Mehmed I or Mehmed Çelebi) (1390, Bursa – May 26, 1421, Edirne, Ottoman Empire) was a Sultan of the Ottoman Empire (Rûm) from 1413 to 1421. He was one of the sons of Bayezid I and Devlet Hatun.

After the Ottoman Interregnum, when Mehmed stood as victor in 1413, he crowned himself sultan in Edirne. He restored the empire, moved the capital from Bursa to Edirne, and conquered parts of Albania, the Jandarid emirate, and the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia from the Mamelukes. Taking many of his achievements into consideration, Mehmed is widely known as the "second founder" of the Ottoman Empire.

Reign of Mehmed I, as Sultan of the re-united empire, had lasted only eight years. But he had been an independent prince for nearly the whole preceding period of eleven years that passed between his father's captivity at Ankara and his own final victory over his brother Musa Çelebi at Chamurli.

He was buried in Bursa, in a mausoleum erected by himself near the celebrated mosque which he built there, and which, from its decorations of green porcelain, is called the Green Mosque. Mehmed I also completed the mosque at Bursa, which his grandfather Murad I had commenced, but which had been neglected during in reign of Bayezid. Mehmed founded in the vicinity of his own mosque and mausoleum two other characteristic institutions, one a school, and one a refectory for the poor both of which he endowed with royal munificence.

Mustafa II Ghazi (Ottoman Turkish: مصطفى ثانى Muṣṭafā-yi sānī) (February 6, 1664 – December 28/30, 1703) was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1695 to 1703.

He was born at Edirne Palace a son of sultan Mehmed IV (1648–87) and Valide Sultan Mah-Para Ummatullah Rabia Gül-Nush, originally named Evemia, who was of Greek Cretan descent. Mustafa II abdicated in favor of his brother Ahmed III (1703–30) in 1703.

The most traumatic event of his reign was the loss of Hungary by the Treaty of Karlowitz in 1699. This event marked the beginning of the long decline of the Ottoman Empire.

At the end of his reign, Mustafa II sought to restore power to the Sultanate, which had been an increasingly symbolic position since the middle of the 17th century, when Mehmed IV had signed over his executive powers to the Grand Vizier. Mustafa II's strategy was to create an alternative base of power for himself by making the position of timars, the Ottoman cavalrymen, hereditary and thus loyal to him. The timars, however, were at this point increasingly an obsolete part of the Ottoman military machine.