Selimus: Chronology of Significant Events Sel: Chronology Author Kirk Melnikoff Markup Editor Janelle Jenstad Conversion and Remediation LEMDO Team Queen’s Men EditionsQME

The Queen’s Men Editions anthology is led by Helen Ostovich, General Editor; Peter Cockett, General Editor (Performance); Andrew Griffin, General Editor (Text; until 2026); and Janelle Jenstad, General Editor (Text; 2026–)

 Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada McMaster University Poculi Ludique Societas University of Waterloo University of Toronto Centre for Drama, Theatre & Performance Studies University of Victoria Friends of the ISE UNC Charlotte

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 University of Victoria on the Linked Early Modern Drama Online Platform

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Queen’s Men Editions

Written by Kirk Melnikoff. Sent by QME to LEMDO as a PDF. Encoded by Janelle Jenstad, Kim Shortreed, and the LEMDO Team.

Encoded in TEI P5 according to the LEMDO Customization and Encoding Guidelines

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 Published file. Updated metadata Editor finished revisions. Published edition. Edition underwent peer review. Added content from PDF, added title tags, changed quotation marks to quote tags, formatted columns as needed, and spell-checked. Created template file and started adding and encoding content from The Play section of the PDF sent by QME anthology leads. Date Event 1402 Bayezid I defeated by Timur the Lame (i.e. the historical source for the protagonist of Marlowe’s Tamburlaine) December 1447 Birth of Bayezid II (i.e. Bajazeth in the play) 1453 Defeat of Byzantine Empire and occupation of Byzantium by Mehmud II, Bayezid II’s father; Byzantium becomes seat of the Ottoman Empire and is renamed Istanbul July 1456 Mehmud II defeated at the Battle of Belgrade 1470 Birth of Selim I (i.e. Selimus in the play) May 1481 Death of Mehmud II; Bayezid II succeeds him as Sultan of the Ottoman Empire 1481-1482 Ottoman Civil War, Bayezid II contending with an uprising led by his younger brother Cem 1485-1491 Mameluke-Ottoman War 1492 Beginning of a large-scale expulsion of Jewish people from the Iberian Peninsula as part of the Spanish Inquisition; many of these people were rescued by Bayezid II and welcomed into Ottoman territories November 1494 Suleiman, son of Selim I, born February 1495 Cem, Bayezid II’s exiled younger brother, dies in Naples April 1495 Hungarian-Ottoman Truce signed 1499-1501 Venetian-Ottoman War 1501 Foundation of Safavid state led by Shah Ismael I (the Ismael alluded to in the play September 1509 Istanbul devastated by earthquake 1510 Bayezid II’s son Alemsah dies April 1511 Grand Vezir Hadim Ali Pasha (i.e. father of the play’s Hali Bassa) killed leading a force against a shia uprising July 1511 Bayezid II soundly defeats Selim I near Chiurlu April 1512 Bayezid II deposed; Selim I becomes Sultan of Ottoman Empire May 1512 Bayezid II dies on the road to his birthplace Demotika March 1513 Capture and execution of Selim I’s oldest brother Korkud (i.e. Corcut in the play) April 1513 Defeat and execution of Selim I’s older brother Ahmed (i.e. Acomat in the play) 1514 Selim I defeats the Persians and their leader Shah Ismael I 1517 Selim I defeats Egypt and its leader Tuman Bey II September 1520 Death of Selim I; Suleiman (i.e. Suleiman I, who will become known as Suleiman the Magnificent) succeeds his father as Sultan of the Ottoman Empire 1529 Ottoman Siege of Venice 1530 Paulo Giovio finishes his Commentario de le cose de’ Turchi; the title is printed in Rome in 1532 1541 Ottoman Siege and Defeat of Buda 1546 Peter Ashton’s A Short Treatise upon the Turkes Chronicles, a translation of a Latin version of Paulo Giovio’s Commentario de le cose de’ Turchi, printed September 1566 Suleiman I dies; his son Selim (i.e. Selim II) succeeds him as Sultan of the Ottoman Empire December 1574 Selim II dies; his son Murad (i.e Murad III) succeeds him as Sultan of the Ottoman Empire 1581 Levant Company established in London 1583 Queen’s Men formed 1587 1 Tamburlaine written and staged 1588 2 Tamburlaine written and staged September, 1588 Death of Richard Tarlton, star clown actor of the Queen’s Men 1590 Richard Jones publishes two-part Tamburlaine the Great 1592 Selimus likely written and staged September, 1592 Death of Robert Greene 1592-1593 London plague; playhouses closed 1593 Thomas Creede opens first printing house under the sign of the Catherine Wheel in Thames Street 1593 Richard Jones publishes the second edition of Tamburlaine the Great May 1593 Murder of Christopher Marlowe 1594 Thomas Creede publishes The First Part of the Tragical Reign of Selimus January 1595 Murad III dies; his son Mehmud (i.e. Mehmud III) succeeds him as Sultan of the Ottoman Empire 1595 Thomas Creede publishes The Lamentable Tragedy of Locrine 1600 Nicholas Ling, Cuthbert Burby, and Thomas Hayes publish Robert Allott’s England’s Parnassus, a collection of quotations that includes six passages from Selimus each attributed to Robert Greene 1603 Certaine hellish verses devysed by that Atheist and traitor Ralegh () appears in two Elizabethan manuscripts; these lines essentially reproduce Selimus’s opening long speech in Scene 2 1638 John Crooke and Richard Sergier reissue The First Part of the Tragical Reign of Selimus as The Tragedy of Selimus Emperor of the Turks. Written T.G. 1881-1886 Selimus reprinted as part of Alexander B. Grosart’s Life and Complete Works in Prose and Verse of Robert Greene 1898 Edited by Grosart, The Tragical Reign of Selimus, the first modernized, single edition of the play, published in the Temple Dramatists series