Speaking of seraglios, the Ottoman sultans, what with a well-stocked harem being one of the perks of office, tended many of them to leave a lot of offspring, and no particular stigma or political disadvantage attached to what in the Christian west was abhorred as “bastardy.” In other words, a sultan’s son had a shot at the job whether mama was a wife or a concubine. Having learned early on that disappointed consanguine claimants were apt to stir up trouble later on, the practice grew up—actually formalized under Mehmet II (“the Conqueror”)—for the contending heirs to establish the legitimacy of the succession by killing or attempting to kill their brothers, the new sultan being the last man standing, which must have made for some tense moments in the nursery growing up.

fraternally,